


Yu-Gi-Oh! SURVIVE

by Balis



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: All cards use TCG names when applicable, Basically DM to 5DS use dub names, Basically season 3 of GX but (NOT) EVERYONE IS HERE, By that I mean some major characters are absent, Canon Crossover, Card Games, Cards (mostly) use TCG/OCG effects when applicable, Character's listed as they appear, I'm about to hit the override button on some happy endings, Mix of sub and dub names, Post-Canon, Zexal to Vrains use sub/original names
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:49:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26335180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Balis/pseuds/Balis
Summary: From across space and time, various duelists of legend find themselves dragged into a strange new dimension, one where any duel turns into a fight to the death. Facing familiar foes, and old allies seemingly turned enemies, they all share one objective: Find a way home, and perhaps save their friends stuck in the same situation.Unfortunately, who or whatever is responsible for their shared predicament isn't content to let them go so easily.
Relationships: Fujiki Yuusaku & Homura Takeru & Zaizen Aoi, Yubel & Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki
Comments: 15
Kudos: 24





	1. Darkness Awakens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaden wakes up in a strange new world with no idea how he got there. After finding his bearings, he sets out to find a way home, only to find himself confronted by someone he doesn’t recognize being manipulated by a force he does.

As the lights began to scatter across the ruined landscape, the Messenger looked on in despair.

It knew it couldn’t protect all of them, not in this place, but it could protect a few. And it could give blessings, useful tools, anything that could help those few save the others.

It was tragic that their arrival couldn’t be stopped in the first place, but still.

They would have a chance. They were owed at least that much.

  
  
  


Jaden Yuki awoke with a start.

And almost immediately, he realized something was wrong.

First of all, he’d gone to sleep in a small, arid forest, safe in his tent and snug in a sleeping bag. Now, his surroundings seemed to have become some kind of canyon. He could see a small amount of grass and other vegetation growing into the rocky cliff faces surrounding him, but worryingly not even the smallest trace of the woods he’d fallen asleep in. Not even on the horizon, which almost entirely consisted of more cliffs, probably because he was at the _bottom_ of the canyon, but still.

Oh, and his tent and sleeping bag were gone. Which was a bit of a shame considering he’d just bought them, but it wouldn’t be the first time something like this had happened in his post-graduation travels. At least he still had his backpack, which he now realized he’d forgotten to take off before passing out the previous night.

“Pharaoh?” He called out groggily, still in the middle of waking up and hoping that maybe his former Professor’s cat (Which also happened to act like a container for said Professor’s soul, though considering all the things he’d went through at Duel Academy, that was probably one of the _least_ strange parts of his journey) had followed him to… wherever he was right now. Afterall, Pharaoh had been right next to him when he’d fallen asleep in the tent, and even though the cat usually knew how to take care of himself, Jaden was worried what might’ve happened to him.

“Hey Pharaoh!” He continued calling, looking around to find the brown feline to no avail, “Professor Banner?” He’d hoped that maybe his former teacher would’ve responded somehow, but again there was no response nor any sign of either Professor Banner or his cat.

 **_“I doubt they’ll respond,”_ ** Said the equally groggy voice of Yubel, as Jaden saw their spirit transparently manifest besides him, arms crossed, **_“In fact, I doubt they’re here at all.”_ **

The sight of Yubel both relieved and worried Jaden. On one hand, they hadn’t been transported or taken away, though at this point, considering the fusion of their souls, Jaden doubted doing so was even possible. But on the other hand, they seemed visibly tired. Considering that most duel spirits, _especially_ Yubel, usually didn’t need things like sleep, it only gave him another sign that something was _seriously_ wrong.

“Well, at least you’re still here, Yubel,” Jaden muttered to himself, dusting some dirt off his jeans, “So… any idea where we are or how we got here? Last thing I remember was laying down to sleep after we set up camp in that forest near Domino.”

 ** _“I… don’t know how. I can’t seem to remember either,”_** Yubel responded, genuinely unsure, **_“But I do have an idea of where we are.”_**

“Where?” Jaden asked, glancing around and trying to pick up on any noticeable landmarks. The most he could see was a vague outline in the distance that was either tall buildings or just more mountains. Of course, his current position didn’t help, “Because I don’t remember a massive canyon like this being anywhere near where we were before.”

 **_“That’s because we aren’t near Domino anymore,”_ ** Yubel explained, **_“We’re not even in our original_ ** **dimension** **_anymore.”_ **

Jaden’s eyes widened, “What?”

 **_“I can feel it,”_ ** Yubel stated as they closed their two normal eyes, their third, yellow eye glowing a light orange, **_“This place… It's extremely similar to the Duel Spirit dimensions I once tried to merge. But it's... different. Almost… artificial.”_ **

Jaden grimaced, “So does that mean…?” He said as his thoughts went back to that time. When Yubel, finally returned from their exile, schemed until they regained their physical form, and then, in the depths of their insanity, tried to fuse themselves, Jaden, and the 12 spirit dimensions together. He remembered his duel with Viper, the Academy being transported to the desert dimension, Jesse sacrificing himself to bring everyone back, his own descent into darkness during Jesse’s rescue as every duel seemed to end with another lost life, and then, his time as the Supreme King…

It was an experience he’d hoped to never go through again. And yet, here he was.

 **_“Yes,”_ ** His guardian spirit confirmed, **_“Duels here have the potential to be lethal. Be on your guard.”_ **

Yubel reopened their normal eyes as their third one stopped glowing, turning their attention to Jaden’s left arm, **_“Also, you might want to check your duel disk,”_ **They remarked before disappearing.

“Huh?” Jaden confusedly brought his arm up, looking at a duel disk that he quickly realized wasn’t his own, “What…?”

He hadn’t noticed in his confusion at his nonconsensual dimension-hop, but his duel disk had indeed been replaced with a completely different one, and the similar weight and shape had delayed him noticing it during his conversation with Yubel. The new disk overall looked very similar to one of the old KaibaCorp Battle City models, like the one he’d used during his entrance exam, but with a large, almost flat black gem where the life point counter would be. He guessed it likely functioned like the gem on his usual disk. The blade was the same triangular shape as the Battle City model, but instead of splitting into two halves in its inactive state, the whole blade was instead retracted into the duel disk. The disk was also different in color from the standard, being made almost entirely of a dark grey metal instead of the standard white.

He tried to remove the disk from his arm, but to no avail. No matter what he did, the strap wouldn’t budge. After a few more moments of trying to pry the disk off by force, Jaden gave up. At least it wasn’t hurting his arm.

“Well, that’s not coming off…” Jaden noted as he began to invoke Yubel’s powers, his left and right brown eyes shifting to the respective blue and orange of his guardian spirit. He didn’t want to risk anything like what happened to him during the Nightshroud Incident happening again. If his duels with Sartorius and Jesse at the time taught him anything, it was that he should always check his cards when someone or something else might’ve gone through them.

But, as Jaden looked over his new duel disk, his powers didn’t detect a single thing wrong with it. No darkness, no unknown spirits, no illusions. As far as he and Yubel could tell, it was a perfectly normal duel disk, albeit one that was completely locked onto his arm.

 _"There has to be something wrong here…”_ Jaden thought, taking out his deck from its holder. Just looking at the stack of cards, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it either, just like the duel disk. 

But, when he actually spread the deck in his hand, that was when his fears were confirmed.

“Hey!” He said aloud, concerned, “Where’s all my Heroes?”

The deck that he looked out _was_ still his… but only half of it. It was composed entirely of his Neo-Spacian cards, along with his other monsters like Winged Kuriboh, Necro Gardna, and Spell Striker, but all of his Elemental Heroes, and most of his other cards supporting them, were just… gone. He still had a full deck, but only composed of the Neos cards he’d had with him, regardless of if they were previously in his deck that last time he’d rebuilt it.

“Neos is the only one left…” He noted, holding up his signature monster. The only Elemental Hero that hadn’t disappeared.

His fusion deck was about the same, the only things left being Neos’ fusions.

 _“Who…_ What _could’ve done this?”_ Jaden thought to himself, clenching his fist in anger. The E-Heroes were his friends, his partners for _years_ . They’d helped him through any challenge he’d gone against, from the Sacred Beasts to Yugi Muto himself. To have them just _vanish_ , with no idea who or what took them, or even _why_ was just…

 **_“Calm down,”_ ** Yubel mentally reassured him, **_“ Trust me, I know the feeling. We’ll get them back. All of them.”_ **

Jaden sighed. Yubel was right, but it still didn’t take the sting off of losing his friends. 

He held out the cards of Neos and Winged Kuriboh, hoping that perhaps two of his most trusted partners had any idea of where they all were, or how they got here. Maybe they even knew where the others might’ve gone.

But, no matter how hard he tried to focus on materializing them, or even just hearing their voices, nothing happened. Neos didn’t appear, nor did Winged Kuriboh. Instead, all he could hear was vague murmurs.

“Come on guys, not you too…” Jaden muttered. It wasn’t as if he _couldn’t_ hear them at all. He could hear the vague sounds of Kuriboh’s cooing and… _something_ , from Neos. They were muffled, not silent. They could still speak, but it appeared _he_ was having trouble hearing them properly.

“Don’t tell me this place is making me go deaf...” He remarked to himself, absentmindedly trying to clean his ears with his fingers before an idea struck him. Even if he couldn’t talk with Neos or Kuriboh _directly_ , it didn’t mean he couldn’t get some answers from them at all.

“Here goes!”

He activated the duel disk around his arm, the blade extending forward with a small mechanical noise as the screen lit up, showing a small hologram of his current field, which, seeing as he wasn’t even in an actual duel, was nothing.

“Huh, might not know where this came from but this thing’s pretty neat!” He commented, examining the now-active disk, “Wonder what these are for though,” He remarked, seeing that there were two small extra zones hidden on the edge of the blade, both of which were able to pull out like the field card zone. Each one had its own monster card zone, although how or why they were there remained a mystery to him.

“Alright, enough messing around,” He took Kuriboh and Neos’ cards and placed them both on the duel disk in attack position, “Come on out guys!”

Sure enough, with a small golden glow on each card, the familiar faces of the winged brown puffball, alongside the white Hero of the cosmos himself, both appeared in front of him with a flash of light. 

Kuriboh quickly began floating around Jaden, letting out a soft _ku_ as it did so. Neos, meanwhile, adopted his usual arms-crossed pose, looking at Jaden expectantly. 

“Nice, it worked!” 

_“Jaden,”_ Neos’ voice began, _“We cannot stay in this form for long outside of a duel, and our connection to you outside of this seems to have been damaged as well, so speak quickly.”_ He explained, Winged Kuriboh floating by his side, nodding to confirm the Hero’s words.

“Alright,” Jaden noted, though it was annoying that his connection to the duel spirits seemed to have been frayed, he could at least talk to them now, “Neos, Kuriboh, do you have any idea how we got here? Or where my other Heroes are?”

To Jaden’s disappointment, Neos shook his head, _“I don’t know how we got to this place,”_ The spirit admitted, _“But, I may know where our taken comrades’ location.”_

The Neo Space Hero turned around, pointing at the tower/mountain that Jaden had observed earlier, _“There, that tower. I can hear the cries of my fellow Heroes,”_ Neos explained, confirming one of Jaden’s earlier suspicions. However, as he finished, his whole body began to glow a soft yellow. Kuriboh began doing the same, looking at it's own small limbs worriedly.

 _“It appears our time to speak with you has reached its end,”_ Neos remarked, his body beginning to fade as Winged Kuriboh’s did the same, _“Good luck Jaden.”_

Kuriboh gave a similarly encouraging _ku_.

“Thanks guys,” Jaden told his two partners as he took their cards off of the duel disk, their fading forms instantly vanishing as he did so, “And don’t worry,” He reassured their cards before placing them back with the rest of his deck, “I’ll get the others back, and then we’re all going to find a way home.”

He could hear a small chuckle from Yubel in the back of his mind, **_“Good to see you aren’t letting the situation get to you.”_ **

Jaden smirked as he set his sights on the tower in the distance. It was just a vague outline from here, but he’d make it. And hopefully, it’d help him get home too.

“I mean, you of all people should know this isn’t exactly new territory for me.”

 _“And this time,”_ He thought to himself, _“I’m not gonna make the same mistakes.”_

  
  
  


It ended up taking Jaden about an hour to get out from the bottom of the canyon he awoke in. The cliffs were steep, but at this point they weren’t too much of a challenge. He had to admit, over the years he’d become a fairly decent athlete. 

The main issue was that it was a _long_ way up to the top of the cliff face, and even that wasn’t the top, though it did seem to be a flat path. He had to occasionally stop for breaks on stable ground, occasionally intermittent by Yubel half-taunting, half-honestly recommending that he shouldn’t look down.

But eventually, he did reach the top. And his reward was a much, _much_ better view of the surrounding area. There was still a large cliff blocking his view of the east, but, to the west (and to his immense surprise) he saw a large, almost golden city. It looked like it sprawled for miles, and almost every building appeared to be covered in an almost ethereal golden light. Yet, staring at it, Jaden couldn’t help but feel that something about it was just _wrong_. It seemed welcoming, but his gut was telling to stay far, far away. 

To the south was… effectively nothing. He couldn’t see any landmarks, or even any signs that there _was_ land more than a few miles behind him. Considering Yubel’s comment about the dimension feeling artificial, it wouldn’t surprise him if the land simply dropped off into the abyss at some point.

But his own destination, which he could now see clearly, was north. Now that he had a better view, the tower looked to be made of dark stone, looking slightly twisted and unnatural. Like the canyon, its surroundings were incredibly rocky, but while the canyon had a fair amount of small vegetation growing in it, including a few small trees in the area he’d come up to, the area around the tower looked outright volcanic. Spikes of rock seemed to be littered across it, and the stone looked like the same kind that made up the tower itself. It gave the appearance of the tower being a massive tendril of earth, reaching upwards towards the sky.

In fact, it was beginning to seem _eerily_ familiar...

**_“We have company.”_ **

Jaden’s train of thought was interrupted by Yubel’s warning. True to it, there _was_ a figure ahead of him on the path he’d climbed up to, and, whoever they were, they were moving in his direction. But with the shade from the cliff face overhead, he couldn’t make out anything more than an unfamiliar outline.

Jaden glanced at his surroundings, and at his duel disk. There wasn’t exactly any room to hide, and the only quick ways out of their path would mean jumping right back down to where he started. To make matters worse, he couldn’t even be certain if he could summon Neos or any of his other monsters to help him in a pinch, and jumping down from where he was now would almost definitely result in something breaking if he didn’t have something to help his fall.

That left him with only two options: Hope whoever was coming his way was friendly, or brace himself for a potential duel to the death.

Soon enough, the stranger came into view properly. It was a girl, seemingly only a few years younger than Jaden himself. She had way blue hair, dark everywhere other than her bangs, which were a lighter shade, dark pink eyes that almost bordered on red, and was wearing a white jacket. On her arm was a duel disk identical to the one Jaden had awoken with, which gave him the brief thought that perhaps she’d been somehow brought here like he had.

But as she continued to advance down the path (and towards him) Jaden noticed that something was off. She wasn’t walking so much as she was stumbling forward, almost like a puppet with loose strings. Occasionally, she’d stop for a moment to rest an arm against the side of the wall, or hold her forehead with one hand, like she had a bad headache. She didn’t even seem to notice him as she approached his position.

On one hand, he was concerned over what might be wrong. For all he knew, she could be the same situation he was. On the other, he knew better then to just trust a random stranger in the middle of nowhere…

Luckily, that was what caution was for.

Jaden quickly summoned forth Yubel’s powers, their dichromatic eyes replacing his own once again, and scanned the girl with their powers… and almost _recoiled_ from what he saw.

There was a mass of darkness, the likes of which he hadn’t seen before or since his incident with the World of Darkness itself in his last year of Duel Academy, clinging onto her being like fire to a match. But he quickly realized that that wasn’t all. There was something else, something pinkish red that he didn’t recognize, it there too, mixing together with the familiar black corruption. It was more… chaotic? Otherworldly? He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it just _felt_ wrong. And whatever it was, it seemed to be clinging onto the darkness just as much as both energies were clinging onto her.

He’d had a shaking feeling that Nightshroud might’ve been behind his current situation, especially with the entity’s own last words promising that he’d return someday. Jaden had just hoped he was wrong. But apparently the condition of humanity needing to call him back to the world didn’t apply if they weren’t on earth anymore.

Unfortunately, whether it was his use of Yubell’s powers or his reaction, the girl quickly seemed to finally register his presence, her posture snapping into a more natural state. Though, at this point, Jaden wasn’t sure if the strings had let go, or if the puppeteer had made them tighter. Either way, her gaze was directly on him, her expression turning into a frigid glare.

“You,” She asked stoically, “You’re a human aren’t you?”

He had to admit that wasn’t exactly what he expected her to say. 

“Uh, aren’t you?” Jaden quickly responded without thinking, earning him the spiritual equivalent of a nudge in the ribs from Yubel.

“I mean… kind of?” He answered. As far as he knew, he didn’t seem to count as _fully_ human ever since his fusion with Yubel, but he still certainly _felt_ human, most of the time anyway, “It’s a little complicated…”

He could practically feel Yubel press their palm to their face, even without them manifesting.

**_“Idiot.”_ **

“Either way I have no choice,” Jaden stepped back in caution as she activated the duel disk on her arm, the blade extending forward with a brief rainbow glow, “I’ll have to eliminate you.”

“Hold on,” Jaden cautioned, going into a defensive stance, “I know you probably aren’t in a good state of mind right now, but-”

“Enough protests,” She interrupted him, and for a brief moment Jaden swore her eyes glowed with the same red as the energy surrounding her, “Are you going to duel or will I just have to crush you outright?”

Jaden already knew that just trying to talk someone out of Darkness’ influence was a losing battle, but the last thing he wanted was to ever be forced to kill someone in a duel, not after his previous ordeal. _Especially_ not someone who might not even be in control of their own actions. But she wasn’t backing down, so he had no choice. And so, he begrudgingly activated his own duel disk.

 **_“Are you sure about this, Jaden?”_ **Yubel’s voice cautioned.

 _“She’s not giving us another option,”_ He mentally answered, _“Besides, a duel might be the only way to counter that darkness and snap her back to her senses.”_

**_“And if she still wants to kill you?”_ ** **_  
_ **

The question caught Jaden slightly off guard, _“Well… then I’ll have to win.”_ He couldn’t fall here, not while Yubel and the rest of his partners were counting on him, and especially not if Darkness truly had returned. But at the same time, he wasn’t going to let himself fall into the shadows. Not again. _“But I have to try. I won’t let Darkness take anyone else, not while I can help it. And I won’t lose my way either.”_

 **_“Then be careful,”_ ** Their voice warned, **_“And remember; you aren’t alone.”_ **

The words gave Jaden a small smile, _“I never am.”_

And with that, he turned his attention back to the matter at hand. 

“Duel!” They both shouted. (Jaden LP: 4000) (Rio LP: 4000)

The screen on Jaden’s duel disk lit up, showing an outline of both of their empty fields, along with their current life points. It looked more advanced than anything Jaden knew that KaibaCorp had put out, which raised even more questions as to the disk’s origins.

 _“So her name’s Rio then?”_ He observed, noting the small name next to her life point counter.

As the two of them drew their opening hands of five cards, a small screen appeared in front of him, titled by a large heading reading “Master Rule”, followed by “The first player may not draw a card during their first turn.”

 _“Huh, new place, new duel disk, new rules I guess,”_ Jaden thought, the screen quickly disappearing as he finished reading it.

“I’ll take the first turn!” Rio announced, and sure enough she didn’t draw a card for her turn. She took a brief glance at her hand before grabbing a card from it, holding it out as it shined brightly, “And I’ll summon Blizzard Chick!”

In front of her, a small bird-like creature appeared with a small flurry of snow. Its body was made entirely of blue and yellow crystals, the blue making up the majority of its body while the yellow functioned as its wings. On its head was a slightly transparent crystal, acting as a visor of sorts, two small glowing yellow eyes visible behind it. (800/700)

Jaden narrowed his eyes, _“That’s not all,”_ He already knew from his own cards that a weaker monster like that usually had a powerful effect attached.

“Now, I’ll activate Blizzard Chick’s effect,” Rio held her hand out towards the crystalline monster, “I can tribute it to special summon a level 4 or lower Water Winged-Beast from my deck!”

The chick let out a small cry as a blue aura surrounded it, solidifying into a large egg seemingly made of ice.

“So I’ll summon Blizzard Thunderbird!” Rio announced, her duel disk producing a card. She took it, placing it onto her duel disk as the egg began to crack. The cracks quickly began to spread over the ice, eventually causing it to shatter as another crystalline monster appeared from it, another burst of snow appearing as it did so. The new monster resembled Chick in appearance, only more mature and humanoid. In its hand was a strange instrument of sorts, which resembled a snowflake. (1600/1400)

Jaden shivered. All those ice monsters were already making him feel cold.

“I’m not done yet,” She continued, sending a monster from her hand to the graveyard, “Now, Blizzard Thunderbird’s effect!” As she called her monster’s name, the yellow wing crystals on it began to glow softly, “By discard 1 card and returning Thunderbird to my hand, I can summon 2 Water Winged-Beasts, one from my hand, and one from my graveyard,” Her duel disk slid the same card she’d just placed into the graveyard back into the graveyard zone, which she took, holding it up alongside another card from her hand, “Blizzard Illusion!”

A thick snowstorm quickly picked up around the two of them, engulfing the Thunderbird as Jaden held up his arm to shield his eyes. It faded just as quickly as it had started, revealing that Blizzard Thunderbird had vanished. Replacing it were two new monsters, one resembling Thunderbird, but more avian and with no yellow crystals, the other a more organic looking bird resembling a swan, with wings that seemed to contain a whole aurora within. (1500/1500) (1200/1600)

 _“She’s swarming the field, and quick too,”_ Jaden mentally noted, observing the freshly summoned monsters, _“This has to be a set up for something…”_

“I overlay my level 4 Blizzard Falcon and level 4 Aurora Wing!” Rio declared, to Jaden’s shock as what appeared to be a small galaxy-like portal appeared overhead.

“Overlay?!” Jaden exclaimed in confusion as the two winged monsters began to turn into blue energy, one slightly darker then the other, before converging into the portal. 

“Xyz Summon!” Rio announced as the galaxy exploded in a burst of light.

“Come forth, Number 103!” As the light faded, what remained was a large humanoid creature, clad in a white and red dress. Most of its face was obscured by some kind of black cloth, with the exception of its piercing red eyes, similar to Rio’s own. On its head was a large headdress seemingly made up entirely of blades made of ice, one bearing a stylized “103” on it, while a similar pair of weapons were held in its hands. It performed a small spin as it descended towards the field, blue particles emitting from it and floating upwards like some kind of inverted snow. Two large blue lights began orbiting around it, leaving a fading trail behind as they did so. “Ragnazero!” (2400/1200)

“Whoa…” Jaden said, awed by both the new summoning method and the new monster, “Never seen a monster like _that_ before.”

 **_“Neither have I…”_ ** Yubel noted, **_“Xyz summoning… Interesting, but be on your guard. I can sense a deep connection between her and that monster.”_ **

_“Got it,”_ Jaden mentally noted. He took a look at the display on his duel disk, seeing that the monsters she’d used hadn’t gone to the graveyard, but were instead somehow attached to the Xyz monster, _“So those must be the orbs going around it then… I gotta watch out, because I don’t even have an idea what these kinds of monsters can do.”_

Rio, meanwhile, only reacted to Jaden’s surprise with a scoff, “I’ll set one card,” She placed the card on her duel disk, a representation of it forming out of yellow pixels in front of her, “Turn end.”

“All right, my turn!” Jaden announced, drawing a card. He took one glance at it, and immediately set it into one of his spell/trap zones, “So I’ll start by activating the spell card Convert Contact!” He exclaimed, a larger version of the card appearing next to him with a flash.

“Since I don’t have any monsters, I can send Neo-Spacians from my hand and deck to the graveyard,” He explained, taking a card from his hand and placing it in his graveyard zone, “So I’ll send Neo-Spacian Dark Panther from my hand,” He continued, revealing the name of the Neo-Spacian as it slid into the grave, “And Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab from my deck,” He continued, taking his deck out from the holder and spreading it, grabbing the fiery Neo-Spacian and sending it to the graveyard as well. His duel disk shuffled his deck for him as he continued.

“And now, I get to draw 2 cards from my deck!” Jaden finished, drawing a pair of cards from the top of his deck. His eyes widened when he saw the two cards he’d drawn, _“I only just got these...”_ He internally mused. Indeed, the two cards were something he’d picked up during his trip to Domino, and were such recent additions to his deck that he hadn’t even used them in a proper duel yet, _“But…”_ He glanced at Ragnazero, _“I’m not sure an Xyz monster is even capable of.”_

Jaden took one of them from his hand, _“So looks like I’ll have to meet it with everything I got! ”_

“I activate the spell card Neos Fusion!” He announced, activating the card on his duel disk as it materialized next to him, “In exchange for not being able to special summon for the rest of my turn, I can fusion summon, so long as I’m summoning a monster that uses my good old Elemental Hero Neos as material!”

His opponent, meanwhile, looked unfazed, “A lot to give up for just a fusion summon.”

“Well good thing this isn’t just any fusion summon!” Jaden declared, holding up his duel disk and showing that two cards in his deck that were glowing with the familiar colors of Neo Space, “Because with Neos Fusion, I can use monsters from my hand, field, or _deck_ as material!"

That actually seemed to catch Rio by surprise, “A fusion summon from the deck?”

“I fuse Elemental Hero Neos and Neo-Spacian Grand Mole!” Jaden announced, two monsters appearing before him with a flash of light. One was the familiar protector of Neo Space, standing arms crossed while the other was a large brown mole-like creature, with large black claws on its hands and feet and a drill apparatus around its neck. They both quickly vanished into a swirling blue vortex, another flash of light revealing a new being as Jaden held his fist in the air “Come forth, Elemental Hero Grand Neos!”

The Neos fusion looked very similar to Neos itself, but with parts of his skin turned light brown and wearing dull green armor similar to Grand Mole’s machinery. Neos’ left hand now had claws just like Grand Moles, while his right hand had been replaced with a massive drill. (2500/2000)

 **_“And here I thought Neos didn’t need fusion spells,”_** Yubel commented briskly.

The arrival of the new fusion caused a large gust of wind throughout the area, whipping both duelists hair as Rio shielded herself with her duel disk, _“It’s stronger than Ragnazero,”_ She mentally noted, her eyes narrowing, _“But only by 100 points. And if he tries to raise it any more, I can use Ragnazero’s effect to destroy it.”_

“Now for his effect!” Jaden announced, to Rio’s dismay, “Once per turn, it can return one of your monsters to your hand!” He held his free hand forward, pointing at Ragnazero, “Nebulous Hole!”

Grand Neos’ drill began to spin, the Neo Space warrior quickly driving it into the ground. As it did so, a purple and black portal appeared below Ragnazero, sucking in air and dirt like a black hole. The ice priestess monster tried to escape, but was ultimately unable to resist as it turned into specks of light, which were also absorbed into the portal.

Rio grimaced at the sight of her only monster vanishing, putting both of the Xyz material monsters into her graveyard… to the surprise of Jaden.

“Oh, so those attached things go to the grave when an Xyz monster leaves the field,” He noted aloud inquisitively, “Good to know.”

Rio, on the other hand, wasn’t as amused, “Don’t mock me.”

Jaden rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, “I’m not, honest,” He admitted, “It’s just I-”

 ** _“You really think it's a smart idea to admit your ignorance to how your opponent’s cards even work?!”_** Yubel barked protectively, causing Jaden to stop mid-sentence, ** _“Think for a moment! Even if darkness is clouding her mind, that doesn’t mean she can’t exploit our lack of knowledge about her cards! Unless of course you don’t outright tell her about it!”_**

Jaden had to admit; they had a point. Even if his goal was to end this by expelling the darkness that was possessing her, it _was_ still a duel to the death until he did so. And even then, he had no guarantee that she’d be willing to stop if he succeeded.

 _“Could’ve been a little nicer about it, but still,”_ He admitted, _"_ _You’re right.”_

“What was that?” Rio questioned, her annoyance with Jaden’s seemingly random stop _extremely_ clear.

“Uh, nothing!” Jaden continued, getting back to the matter at hand, “Anyways, let's see if this’ll snap you back to your senses!” He declared, Grand Neos already revving up its drill to attack as he gestured forward, “Go, Grand Neos!”

The fusion monster charged, driving its weapon straight toward Rio.

“I activate the Continuous Trap Ice Chain!” She announced, gesturing as her set card flipped up and revealed itself. As the trap shined, Grand Neos’ approach was halted by another flurry of snow. Though it only appeared for a moment, it was enough to stop the Neos fusion’s attack, and when the miniature snowstorm faded it revealed a large pillar of ice between Grand Neos and Rio.

“I can special summon 1 level 4 or lower Water monster from my hand,” She explained, “So I’ll summon Blizzard Thunderbird in defense position!” She placed the monster onto her duel disk, the blue and yellow crystalline beast appearing once again, this time at the top of the ice pillar. (1600/1400) The Thunderbird jumped downward as the pillar cracked and shattered into cold air, taking on a defensive stance with its tool as it landed.

Grand Neos, still on Rio’s side of the field, took a small look over its shoulder to Jaden, almost as if it was asking for advice.

 **_“So she summoned Thunderbird to both establish her field_ ** **and** **_to have it to her hand for use as a shield in case her Xyz monster was removed,”_ ** Yubel noted, impressed, **_“Not bad.”_ **

“ _Yeah,”_ Jaden mentally agreed, _“I just wish she wasn’t using that skill against us.”_

“That won’t stop me!” Jaden declared, holding his left hand forward, “Keep going Grand Neos!” 

The fusion monster mimicked its master’s gesture, holding its clawed hand only a foot away from Thunderbird. Energy began to charge into it, and only a few moments later a yellow blast erupted from Grand Neos’ palm, destroying the avian creature. Rio shielded herself from the small backblast of wind with her duel disk arm, but both physically and life points-wise she herself was unharmed from the attack.

“I’ll throw down two face-downs and end my turn,” Jaden said as Grand Neos returned to his side of the field, the two set cards immediately fading into form in front of him.

However, as Rio began to reach for her own deck to start her turn, Grand Neos’ form began to fade in and out of visibility. 

“Oh, normally Grand Neos would return to my fusion deck at the end of my turn,” Jaden explained to answer her brief look of confusion, which quickly turned to bewilderment as she registered what he’d just said. 

“Your own monster just disappears and leaves you defenseless?” She asked incredulously. Her disbelief quickly turned to anger, “Is this some kind of _joke?_ ” 

“Don’t think Neos is gonna disappear quite yet,” Jaden responded. His duel disk’s graveyard entrance glowed as Neos Fusion was ejected out it, “By removing Neos Fusion from the game, Grand Neos gets to stay on the field until my next end phase,” He explained, taking the spell out from his duel disk and holding it forward as it glowed softly. As he did so, a small patch of Neo Space’s familiar rainbow glow appeared beneath Grand Neos’ feet, causing the monster’s fading to stop.

Rio’s fingers gripped the top card of her deck, “Enough playing,” She said, oddly tranquil despite the mix of annoyance and anger in her voice, “My turn!” She declared, her eyes flashing a pinkish red once again as she drew, a mixture of darkness and the unknown pink energy trailing the card, “I draw!”

 **_“That card...!”_ **Yubel didn’t even wait for Jaden to mentally request their powers as the former Slifer Red’s eyes changed to Yubel’s once again. While he could still see the darkness clinging to Rio without them, Yubel’s powers made everything much clearer.

The reason for Yubel’s concern became clear when Jaden’s gaze landed on the card Rio had drawn; it was completely tainted black, with more of the pinkish red energy surrounding it.

“That must be the source…” He muttered under his breath. He knew darkness usually latched onto specific cards, infecting them to infect their users in turn. It’d happened to his own Polymerization during the original incident, and he’d only been saved by Jesse expelling it from the card with the power of his spirit partners. So now it was his turn to do the same to this girl. 

Rio glanced at the card she’d drawn. As she did so, Jaden could see the darkness surrounding her flare up, like a flame meeting fuel, “I activate Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One!” She declared, holding the card to the air as the energy surrounding it met with the energy surrounding her. The darkness began to twist and contort, eventually forming itself into a proper shape. A silhouette, one that looked very similar to Rio herself, but not identical. Jaden could make out that the shadow had longer hair, large spikes at its shoulders, and was seemingly wearing a dress, unlike Rio’s own skirt. The other energy began to transfer itself into the darkness’ new form, with two new proper eyes forming on the silhouette’s face, gleaming red.

Jaden grimaced. He didn’t know what a Rank-Up-Magic was or what it did (Though he’d certainly get his answer soon), but with that much darkness channeling into it, it couldn’t be good. There was some comfort though. If he could defeat that card or whatever it brought out, that might just be enough to expel the corruption. He braced himself. This would be the hardest part, but it was also his chance to end this.

“I can special summon my Ragnazero from my extra deck,” She explained, as, to Jaden’s shock, the ice-covered priestess appeared before her once again, this time without the blue lights orbiting it.

“W ** _h_ ** a ** _t_ ** ? ** _!_ **” Both Jaden and Yubel exclaimed simultaneously.

“I returned that card to your deck!” Jaden shouted, astonished, “And that card just lets you summon it again?!?”

“That’s not all,” Rio declared, “Now, I can turn my Number into Chaos and Rank it Up!” She held her open palm to the air, the dark copy shadowing her copying her motions and doing the same as dark red clouds formed above her, “Chaos Xyz Change!” Ragnazero changed into energy just like its original materials had, only colored the same as the pink-red aura that had surrounded Rio herself. Ragnazero’s form jumped into the cloud vortex above her like a lightning bolt, a burst of dark energy erupting as it made contact.

“Please come forth!” Rio chanted, “Chaos Number 103!” A new figure began to descend from the clouds as they cleared, looking similar to Ragnazero. But this new monster’s dress was purple, its midriff parting to reveal a core of that same pink energy. The blade-covered headdress was gone, replaced with a smaller one made of black crystals. A pair of similarly crystalline black wings protruded from its lower back, another stylized 103 visible nearby, “The unlimited power to freeze even time itself rises once again,” Rio continued as her monster began to twirl a massive, double-sided red and gold scythe around itself with dancer-like skill, “Ragnafinity!” The monster reached the field, keeping its scythe in a resting position as a red crystal appeared in front of it, golden armor materializing onto the gem almost immediately afterward. (2800/2400)

Jaden took a step back. All the taint infecting The Seventh One seemed to have transferred itself to Ragnafinity, the monster surrounding itself with a massive aura of darkness. Not only had Rio summoned her monster back, from the deck no less, but she also seemed to evolve it into a more powerful form. And he _still_ had little idea where the true power of Xyz monsters even laid.

“Now, the spell Zero Blade!” Rio continued, playing the last card in her hand, “One monster my opponent controls loses 1000 attack!”

Jaden’s eyes widened as the spell card appeared next to Rio, a blue beam shooting out of it and hitting Grand Neos, which shuddered as its attack points lowered to 1500. (2500-1500)

“I’m not done yet!” Rio shouted, “Now I can activate the effect of my Ragnafinity! By detaching 1 Chaos Overlay Unit while a monster on your field has attack that’s different from its original attack,” She explained, Ragnafinity converting the crystal hovering alongside it into more pink-red energy at the same time, absorbing the result into its scythe and causing the blades on both ends to glow white, “I can inflict damage to you equal to the difference! 

Jaden’s eyes widened. It was only 1000 damage… but in this world, it was going to _hurt_.

At least he knew what those “Overlay Units” did now.

“Guidance to Purgatory!”

Ragnafinity held its scythe towards Grand Neos, red lightning shooting out of one end and engulfing Jaden’s monster. As Neos stood there, pained by the electrocution, the lightning arced over to Jaden himself. He yelled in pain as the energy attacked his body, falling onto one knee. (Jaden LP: 4000-3000)

“And, when this Guidance to Purgatory is successful, your monster…” Rio finished, shooting him another glare as her eyes flashed red once more, “...Is banished!”

“What?” Jaden gasped, still on his knee as the red lightning faded. But Rio’s words proved true when, as soon as the lightning disappeared, Grand Neos dissolved into red particles, “Grand Neos…”

“You’ll join him soon,” Rio taunted, “Now, I’ll activate the effect of my Blizzard Chick in the graveyard. While I control a Water attribute Xyz monster with no overlay units, I can banish another Water Winged-Beast type monster from my graveyard,” She explained as Blizzard Thunderbird was ejected from her duel disk, “To attach Blizzard Chick to my Xyz monster as an overlay unit!”

A purple portal appeared on her field, blue energy similar to the Xyz material emerging from it and forming into another red golden armored crystal, which took the same place as the previous Chaos Overlay Unit next to Ragnafinity.

“And, my Zero Blade has another effect!” Rio kept talking as Jaden got himself back on his feet, “On the turn I activate it, one of my monsters can attack twice!”

“Time to end this,” She said, her eyes flashing once more, “Ragnafinity, attack him directly!” She commanded, Ragnafinity pulling its scythe backwards before making a great swing into the air, a circle of red energy forming from the slash which began barreling towards Jaden.

“This isn’t over yet!” Jaden declared, activating one of his set cards, “Go, Negate Attack!”

The trap card revealed itself, a blue circular barrier forming in front of Jaden, Ragnafinity’s attack exploding against it instead of colliding with Jaden. The blast caused another large gust of wind, whipping his hair and jacket back and forth but ultimately leaving him unharmed.

“Not only does this stop your attack,” Jaden explained as the trap on the field faded, “But it also ends your battle phase, so you can’t use your second attack either!”

“Tsk,” Rio didn’t seem pleased at the turn of events as her monster returned to resting position, but she didn’t have any more cards in hand or on her field, so there was little she could do, “I end my turn.”

 **_“That Ragnafinity has a powerful effect,”_ ** Yubel mused, **_“Any attack gain by our monsters will not only result in them being banished, but we’ll also take damage,”_ ** They observed, **_“I hope you’re not too scared.”_ **

_“You’re kidding right?”_ Jaden said, gaining a small smirk as his hand went to draw his next card, _“Yeah, it’s a strong monster, but if defeating it takes out that darkness, then I’ll defeat it no matter what!”_

Yubel chuckled. They already knew their question was rhetorical, **_“Just making sure you haven’t lost your nerve.”_ **

That being said, he didn’t have an exact idea of what he could use to defeat Ragnafinity at the moment. He couldn’t summon Magma Neos, Ragnafinity would just banish it the second it started gaining attack, but he couldn’t use Neos or any of the other cards in his main deck because he wouldn’t be able to raise their attack without also triggering Ragnafinity’s effect. He needed to either negate Ragnafinity’s effects or… _“That’s it!”_

“Here goes!” Jaden declared, “I draw!” 

He quickly added the card to his hand before gesturing towards his remaining set card, “And now I’ll activate my set card, NEXT!” The trap card, the other new card he’d drawn with Convert Contact, revealed itself and began shining brightly, “I can special summon Elemental Hero Neos and as many Neo-Spacians as I want from my graveyard in defense mode, as long as I negate their effects!”

He held his duel disk to his chest, the graveyard zone shining brightly with the rainbow colors of Neo Space as three cards were ejected from it, “Come on out, Elemental Hero Neos, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, and Neo-Spacian Dark Panther!” As he called each of his partner’s names, they appeared before him with a flash of white, each on a sideward copy of their own cards and with their arms crossed in a defensive stance, with the obvious exception of the non-anthropomorphic Dark Panther. (2500/2000) (900/300) (1000/500)

Rio grimaced at the arrival of the familiar first two monsters… but seemed oddly uncomfortable when Dark Panther appeared on the field, stepping back slightly. Almost… scared? Whatever it was, she seemed to snap out of it quickly.

 _“Only three of the four monsters in his graveyard,”_ Rio mentally noted, _“And two of them are level 3… He’s plotting something.”_

“Now, I may not have any of those Xyz monsters you do,” Jaden admitted, “But I’ve got a few tricks of my own, right guys?” The trio of Neo Space natives before him each gave Jaden a small nod, which he returned, “This is the true power of my Neos!” He exclaimed, “Go, Triple Contact Fusion!”

At the words, Neos, Grand Mole, and Dark Panther got up from their defending positions, the sky above them turning into a small projection of space. The two beast-like Neo-Spacians nodded to each other once more before jumping into the air, Neos following soon after. When they would’ve crashed into each other, instead a large ball of rainbow energy formed, engulfing all their forms and shining brightly over the canyon.

“Contact fusion?” Rio repeated, raising a free hand to shield her eyes. While she seemed more intrigued at the events, the shadow mimicking her narrowed its crimson eyes, its form shaking from the burst of light.

“I shuffle Neos, Grand Mole, and Dark Panther into my deck to fusion summon!” Jaden explained before throwing his hand forward, “Come forth, Elemental Hero Nebula Neos!”

The ball of rainbow light suddenly shot down into the ground, crashing down and kicking up a massive cloud of dust. After a moment, the dust began to disappear, but instead of settling, it seemed like all the dirt kicked up by the summoning was being sucked _inwards,_ like there was a vacuum in the center of the explosion. Eventually, the dust disappeared, revealing the new Neos Fusion standing in the middle of the crater its arrival created. Much like Grand Neos, Nebula Neos looked similar to the original, but with green armor. The difference was that Nebula Neos’ armor was far less bulky, and had lines of orange energy coursing through it. In addition, several parts of Neos’ original body had turned black, and the fusion had a set of jet-like wings on its back. Its right hand held a large gauntlet, with two large drills on the front, while the other held a ball of what seemed to be pure gravitational energy, which absorbed the last of the dust as Nebula Neos revealed itself in full. (3000/2500)

“Now for Nebula Neos’ effect!” Jaden commanded as Rio looked down at her duel disk to see Ragnafinity’s card glowing a soft orange, “When I summon him from my fusion deck, I can draw a card for each card my opponent controls!”

Jaden moved his hand to the top of his deck to draw… but stopped, “Uh, say,” He asked honestly, moving his hand to scratch the back of his head again, “Those Overlay Unit things don’t count as separate cards, right?”

Rio gave a huff of annoyance before answering plainly, “No.”

“Just checking! So, I just draw one,” He replied, drawing the card with a small grunt, “And now,” He continued, without checking the card he’d drawn, “The second part of Nebula Neos’ effect! I can negate the effects of one card on the field! And I’m targeting your Ragnafinity!”

“Negate its effects…?” Rio repeated, shocked. All the while, the shadowy silhouette behind her seemed to grow slightly larger...

“Go, Nebula Neos!” Jaden commanded as Nebula Neos held up the ball of energy in its hand. , “Gravity Pin!” At Jaden’s order, the Neos Triple Fusion threw the ball towards Rio’s field, the gravity within causing more dirt and other minor debris to be sucked in. The energy impacted Ragnafinity, and almost immediately the Number dropped from its floating position to the ground below. The scythe embedded itself in the earth as the Chaos Xyz tried and failed to lift it upright as its own body was brought down to earth by the gravitational energy. Even its overlay unit couldn’t escape, Nebula Neos’ ability forcibly embedding it into the ground like a blade as Ragnafinity’s colors became slightly faded.

Rio, and her long-haired shadow, shot him a hateful glare. But whereas before the shaped darkness seemed to be content with following Rio’s movements, now it was beginning to seem more and more like the situation was reversed. Like _she_ was being forced to mimic the darkness, not the other way around.

Jaden ignored it. He had to focus on getting rid of Ragnafinity. After all, when Jesse destroyed the Tempest he’d summoned with his tainted Polymerization card, it managed to break Nightshroud’s spell over him. So destroying the Ragnafinity she’d summoned with her own infected card might do the same to her.

That was the theory anyways. He just had to test it.

“And I’m not done yet!” Jaden declared, the field spell slot on one end of his duel disk opening to reveal its card zone, “I activate the field spell Neo Space!” He placed the spell card onto his duel disk, the field zone immediately snapping back with the card inside. A wave of energy emerged from behind him, replacing their rocky surroundings with the familiar (To him at least) rainbow void of the Neo-Spacians’ home.

“What is this…?” Rio muttered to herself as the energy of the Field Spell engulfed her side of the field as well. From both duelists’ point of view, they were in the middle of a seemingly endless patch of polychromatic space. But, despite the lack of any visible land, they were still standing on solid ground.

Of course, this was because it was _mostly_ a hologram, but Jaden could understand that experiencing it for the first time could be a little disorienting.

“Now, while this cards up, none of my Neos fusions have to return to the extra deck at the end of my turn,” Jaden explained, “And, Nebula Neos gains 500 attack!”

Nebula Neos’ body glowed softly, basking in the energy of its native field as its attack points rose. (3000-3500)

“ _And_ , thanks to Gravity Pin, you can’t get rid of it with your Ragnafinity’s effect!” Jaden continued, Rio grimacing at the statement.

“We’re battling! Go, Nebula Neos!” Jaden shouted, and this time _his_ eyes briefly flashed with Yubel’s colors, “Attack Ragnafinity with Dark Drill!” At Jaden’s words, Nebula Neos’ drill-gauntlet began to spin its drills, an aura of gravitational energy appearing around them. Neos thrusted its arm forward, the gravity forming a tether of sorts between it and Ragnafinity. The tether pulled the fusion monster forward, Nebula Neos gaining more and more speed and force as it traveled. And, inevitably, Neos collided with the Number, stabbing it full force with both spinning drills and destroying the monster in a large explosion.

The destruction of her Chaos Number caused Rio to stagger back, not quite knocking her to the ground but still managing to displace her footing. (Rio LP: 4000-3300) Curiously, despite the destruction of its corresponding monster, the Chaos Overlay Unit remained on the field, still embedded into the ground...

Jaden stood apprehensively as Nebula Neos returned to his field. Destroying Ragnafinity _should_ have knocked her out of Nightshroud’s grip, but something felt... wrong.

Rio’s eyes looked almost glazed over as she struggled to regain herself, “Ugh…” She groaned unsteadily, grabbing at her head again, “Who are… you…? You...” 

Jaden kept his guard up. It was good that Rio was seeming to regain her senses, or at the very least was shaking off the darkness’ manipulation, but he knew better. The shade shadowing her was still present, and despite its limited features, he could see its face contorting into an expression he could only describe as fury.

Suddenly, Rio clutched her head, crying out in pain for a moment before her eyes closed and her arms went limp. At the same time, the shadow’s form began shifting, not molding itself into a different shape, but rather adjusting its current one. Its hair became more untamed, moving almost like smoke, its arms turning long and gangly, the fingers turning to claws. Instead of trailing Rio, much like how Yubel would manifest for Jaden himself, it instead was now towering over her.

It reminded him of the shard of Nightshroud that had wormed its way into Fujiwara’s heart. Though, unlike that one, it had still yet to talk. 

Rio opened her eyes, now glowing with the same red energy that they’d been flashing with throughout the duel, “You’ve doomed yourself,” She said calmly, malice in every word.

The shadow raised its arm forward, Rio’s corresponding arm doing the same as if strings were pulling it, “Ragnafinity’s effect activates!”

Jaden’s eyes widened as the Chaos Overlay Unit turned to blue energy as a purple graveyard portal opened beneath it, “When it's destroyed while it has a Chaos Overlay Unit, I can special summon it from my graveyard!” The blue energy the Unit had become converged into the portal, a light pink light slowly coming up from it, “Return from Purgatory!”

Sure enough, Ragnafinity surfaced from the portal, once again twirling its scythe as it returned to the battlefield, a soft burst of light blue light from discharging from its core when it fully emerged. (2800/2400)

“On my next turn, I can use Blizzard Chick and Ragnafinity’s effects to banish your fusion monsters, thanks to your own field spell,” Rio explained, “Even if you can survive my Number’s attack, your own card ensures I’ll have valid targets for Guidance to Purgatory. You practically dug your own grave.”

Jaden turned his head down, “You’re wrong,” He remarked seriously, letting Yubel’s power fully overtake him, “This ends **_now_ **.” He raised his head, revealing his now dichromatic irises, each one glowing as he fully channeled his guardian spirit.

He immediately took one card from his hand, holding it out, “Go, Contact Out!” He announced, the card shining in his hand, Nebula Neos’ body also beginning to shine, “I return Nebula Neos to my fusion deck to summon its materials from my deck!”

Nebula Neos rose into the air, its body shining one last time as it split into three rays of light, one orange, one purple, and one white, “Come, Neos, Grand Mole, and Dark Panther!” Jaden yelled, each monster appearing on the field as its name was called. (2500/2000) (900/300) (1000/500)

“Neo Space grants Neos another 500 attack!” Neos crossed his arms, glowing slightly as the power of his homeland empowered him. (2500-3000)

Rio scowled, “Even with that,” She remarked, “You still don’t have enough to finish me this turn!” Indeed, from her perspective, taking 200 damage from Neos taking out Ragnafinity, then both of the Neo-Spacians’ direct attacks, would leave her with just shy of 1000 life points.

“Let’s see about that!” Jaden nodded to Grand Mole, who returned the gesture. The Neo-Spacian mammal readied itself to attack as Jaden continued, “Grand Mole attacks Ragnafinity!” At Jaden’s command, the drill apparatus around Grand Mole’s neck activated, forming a drill over the monster’s head that quickly began to spin, ”Drill Mole!” The Neo-Spacian then dived into the earth and began to burrow towards Ragnafinity, a line of upturned earth above it showing its progress.

“Why would you destroy your own monster?” Rio wondered aloud, right before Grand Mole lept out of the earth, the drill splitting back in half as it reached towards Ragnafinity with its claws. The shadow puppeteered Rio’s arm forward once again, “Strike back Ragnafinity!”

Ragnafinity complied with its master’s command, bringing its scythe down on Jaden’s monster… Only for Grand Mole to catch the strike with its claws. Immediately, both monster’s forms became covered in light, yellow for Grand Mole and a dark blue for Ragnafinity.

“What?”

“When Grand Mole battles, here’s its effect!” Jaden exclaimed, “There’s no damage calculation, and both of our monsters return to our hands!”

“ **NO!** ” Rio, or perhaps the darkness controlling her, shouted with an inhuman growl as both monsters’ energy silhouetted forms began to vanish, a bolt of energy rematerializing each one back into their owners hands.

Jaden gave a small smile as his comrade returned to his hand, but Rio’s reaction wasn’t nearly as pleasant. For a brief moment, she held the Ragnazero in the palm of her hand, but her grip on it soon began to shake. The card fluttered to the ground as she dropped it, both her hands going to grip her head as the shadow behind her began to grow once again. At the same time, darkness began to emerge from the fallen Chaos Number, rapidly expanding and growing to meet the shadow until it looked as if an inferno of it had engulfed the blue-haired girl.

 _“This is my chance,”_ Jaden thought to himself. All the darkness had expunged itself from the card and, though it was clinging to Rio’s body, that meant it was vulnerable. That meant he could destroy _it_... and hopefully end the duel with both of them alive.

He turned to Neos, who nodded, _“I know what must be done. At your signal, Jaden!”_

Jaden turned back to his suffering opponent, “Time to wake up!” He shouted, channeling his powers into Neos for the decisive blow, “Neos, attack that darkness directly!”

At Jaden’s words, Neos charged forward, engulfed in an aura of prismatic energy. With a jump, it delivered an uppercut, hitting both Rio and the darkness controlling her. As Rio was knocked backwards, still on her feet, the shadow let out an inhuman roar. Raising a clawed hand, which Rio was forced to mimic, it attempted to claw at the Elemental Hero. However, Neos simply jumped backwards, the swipe hitting nothing. Before the shadow could attempt anything else, Neos fired a beam of light from his palm, hitting the shadow clean in the chest, but not Rio herself. (Rio LP: 3300-300)

Jaden shielded his eyes as the attack made contact and exploded, smoke covering the battlefield, _“Did it work?”_ He wondered, concerned as the smoke cleared. The shadow was still there, seemingly unharmed.

His fears proved unfounded, however, as the shadow let out a small sound, one that almost sounded like ice cracking, and was engulfed by a yellow glow. Within seconds, the main body of the shadow dissolved into small particles of yellow light that dissipated into the air. The aura surrounding Rio slowly began to do the same, eventually disappearing and leaving her standing there, listless. After a moment, another small burst of the same yellow particles seemed to emerge around her head, and Jaden swore her facial features softened slightly as it happened.

Still, he kept his guard up. Even if she wasn’t being manipulated anymore, she could still be an enemy to him regardless. Worst case he could end the duel with Dark Panther’s direct attack, but…

**_“You know what you have to do if she doesn’t back down now.”_ **

Yubel was right, but he just had to hope it wouldn’t come to that.

Luckily for him, it was at that moment Rio’s legs seemed to give out. She fell backwards, her hair spreading out behind her as she hit the ground, seemingly unconscious. 

Jaden held his breath, waiting for a few moments, but it seemed like she was out for real. 

_“Looks like I don’t need to,”_ He mentally told his guardian spirit, _“The duel’s over.”_

He slowly let himself breathe again, Yubel’s powers fading as his eyes returned to normal. He removed his cards from his duel disk, each monster fading and the surroundings returning to normal as he did so. His duel disk retracted back into its resting mode, and after a few moments of no response from its owner, so did Rio’s.

He was a little scratched up from the attack earlier, his opponent significantly more so from his own attacks towards her (Though the fall she’d just suffered was probably responsible for some of that) not to mention unconscious… But, they were both still alive. His plan had worked.

A part of him wanted to celebrate, but he mostly just felt tired. It wasn’t exactly his first time dueling with his life on the line, but he hadn’t done so for a decent while. 

**_“So, what now?”_** Yubel questioned as he walked over to examine Rio.

 _“I think I’m gonna wait for her to wake up again,”_ Jaden mentally remarked, setting his backpack down and looking through it to see if he had any proper supplies on him, _“She might know more about this place then we do.”_

 **_“You know_** **,** ** _”_** Yubel remarked, **_“While we were dueling her, I couldn’t but feel something… strange going on.”_ **

_“What do you mean?”_

**_“Like there was something else possessing her other than the darkness,"_** They replied, **_“Something more like a spirit, but at the same time… different.”_ **

_“And you’re only bringing this up now because…?”_

**_“Relax, whatever it was it seemed to disappear as soon as the darkness did,”_ ** Yubel reassured him, **_“Still, I have a feeling Nightshroud isn’t the only force in play here. Be careful.”_ **

“I will, don’t worry,” Jaden set Rio’s body against the cliff face before turning his attention towards the tower in the distance. He could already tell this was going to be an ordeal, and who knew what kind of threat he might have to face going forward...

But he’d survive. After the Sacred Beasts, the Light of Destruction, Viper, Yubel, Trueman, Nightshroud, Paradox… He wasn’t a student anymore. He’d face whatever force had brought him here head-on, just like he always did. And hey, this time he actually had an idea of what he was doing. Not like the last time.

Still, he already had a feeling it was going to be a long journey home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! SURVIVE:  
> Chapter 2: Rule of Three  
> Three heroes of Link Vrains try to find their place in a new world, only to find themselves being hunted down. Driven into a corner, they struggle to decide their next move.
> 
> So, this has been a bit of a pet-project of mine for a while now, hence why Broken Star hasn't had an update in a while. For those who follow that story, don't worry, I'm getting back to work on that, but I did want to do a chapter of this first. Basically, I'll be alternating between the two whenever writer's block pops up for one, though SURVIVE will likely be updated more slowly.
> 
> As I mentioned above this has been something I've been wanting to do for a while now. I'm a big fan of Yugioh and stuff like Kamen Rider Ryuki, so it should come as no surprise that GX season 3 is among my favorite Yugioh seasons ever. And, since I enjoy watching characters suffer, I figured that throwing a bunch of Yugioh characters into one of the darkest settings the Yugioh anime series has would be a great idea. As you'll see in future chapters, there'll be a lot of different reactions to this whole situation, and certain protagonists will adjust to it more easily then others. Yuya in particular is, well... not gonna have a good time. But anyways, there'll be a lot of familiar faces, both good and bad, going forward, and one of my major objectives will be giving more of a spotlight and role to characters who weren't dealt a good hand (HAHAHA) by canon. And yes, I am looking at Arc V when I say this. Another thing is that I noticed a lot of Yugioh fics tend to kind of gloss over the whole "Card Games Mean Everything" aspect that the whole franchise personifies, and while I can certainly respect and understand not wanting to bother with all the effort to make up a whole card game between two fictional characters, I both enjoy writing these duels and feel they're too important to the whole franchise's identity to ignore. So expect around one (almost) every chapter, kinda like the actual series. And don't worry, if you mainly want some character interactions I'll be sure to include a lot of those in between the children's card games too. 
> 
> Anyways, I'd really appreciate that, if you enjoyed this, you could put a comment and/or recommend this to someone else who might also enjoy it.


	2. Rule of Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three heroes of Link Vrains try to find their place in a new world, only to find themselves being hunted down. Driven into a corner, they struggle to decide their next move.

The nightmare was familiar to Yusaku.

It wasn’t one of the ones he’d suffered from for years, the flashbacks to the lost incident. The memories of the painful shocks, the days without food, that _damn_ white room… Those hadn’t come up in a while now. After everything that had occurred after meeting Ai, they’d slowly but surely began to happen less and less, becoming less vivid, less intense. They’d likely never truly go away, but it seemed like he’d finally managed to move on. The Lost Incident had finally let him go.

No, the new nightmare was from something more… recent.

Just him standing there, holding Ai’s lifeless SOLtiS body, surrounded by a sea of corpses all identical to his former partner. And eventually, all their closed eyes would open and just _stare_ at him.

“Is that… Fujiki?”

Then the voices would begin. First, it was Ai’s. Asking, pleading, _“Why couldn’t you save me?”_

“Yusaku? Hey, Yusaku?”

_“Why couldn’t you save me?”_

_“Why couldn’t you save me?”_

_“Why couldn’t you save me?”_

But, as it kept going, the voice gradually began to morph. The sound of his partner began to fade into his own.

_“Why couldn’t you save him?”_

_“Why couldn’t you save him?”_

_“Why couldn’t you-”_

“Yusaku, wake up!”

It was at that moment that he was dragged out of the nightmare by the feeling of someone shaking him.

Yusaku awoke with a gasp, taking a brief moment to catch his breath and rapidly blink the sleep out of his eyes. After the initial shock wore off, he managed to make out two figures standing next to him, and after his eyes adjusted, recognized them. Takeru was the one trying to shake him awake, while a concerned Aoi stood slightly behind him. Takeru was in a white, yellow-striped hoodie that Yusaku could remember seeing him wear in a few photos from before he moved to Den City, while Aoi was wearing her usual school uniform with the (Ironic, now that he thought about it) blue wing outline.

“Takeru? Aoi?” He asked somewhat groggily as he began to get up, “What are you-” His line of thought was interrupted when he felt his hand meet grass. He’d fallen asleep in his bedroom what was-

It was then that it fully hit him how much was _wrong_ with his current situation. Takeru had moved home shortly after Ai’s rebellion, so what was he doing here? Even if he’d been somehow transported into the network, (Something that, after all the incidents with Ai and Lightning, he didn’t rule out as a possibility. Especially since he usually slept with his duel disk on.) then why weren’t any of them in their VR avatars?

He quickly analyzed the area around the three of them. They were in some kind of plain, grassy and dotted with patches of bare sand and dirt. They were currently at the base of a small hill, and he could see some mountains in the far distance. _Nothing_ here looked even remotely close to anything near Den City, so where exactly were they?

He supposed that was a good first question to ask.

“Where are we?”

“We were hoping you knew,” Takeru remarked, looking uneasy that Yusaku didn’t have an answer.

“We woke up just over there,” Aoi noted, and indeed he could vaguely make out two imprints in the grass close by. He could note that she seemed calmer, or at the very least, less visible panicked about the situation. That being said, the occasional nervous glance at their surroundings betrayed that she wasn’t exactly at ease either.

He got onto his feet and noted an unfamiliar weight on his arm. It was a duel disk, but not his own. It was dark gray, an extremely antiquated looking model. His personal duel disk was already about a few years out of date, but he’d only seen something like this in textbooks. It resembled dueling tech from decades back, long before he was born or LINK VRAINS was even in conceptual stages. At least the screen on it looked a little more modern, but still _very_ out of date.

There was a deck loaded into the duel disk’s front, which Yusaku took out and examined for a moment, “So then, none of us have any idea how we’ve arrived here…” He mused. The deck he’d taken out definitely _looked_ like his Cyberse one. Other then a few cards that he’d previously taken out that seemed to have been somehow reinserted into the deck, along with of course a few that were previously in the deck that had taken out in exchange, it looked identical to how his deck had been set up the last time he’d used it to enter LINK VRAINS.

“Do either of you have any idea where these duel disks came from?” Yusaku asked as he tried in vain to get the disk off his arm. It quickly became apparent that, however the accessory had gotten on his arm, it wasn’t coming off anytime soon.”

“Nope,” Takeru answered, bringing his own identical model up and futility trying to remove it from his arm. 

“Mine was on my arm when I woke up…” Aoi also brought her own duel disk arm up, though her sluggish movements made it clear she wasn’t quite used to the weight yet, “The last thing I remember before that was going to sleep in my brother’s apartment.”

“Same,” Takeru added, “I fell asleep at my Grandparents’ house, next thing I knew I was waking up in the middle of nowhere.”

“And I was asleep in my own apartment,” Yusaku confirmed. So then, they had their first lead. They were all asleep when they were taken, so at least they had a start, “I still had my duel disk on my arm, what about you?”

“Mine was on my desk right next to my bed…” Aoi’s eyes widened, seemingly having reached the same conclusion as Yusaku.

“Huh?” Takeru remarked confusedly, “What are you guys thinking?”

“Kusangi’s brother was taken into the network from a television,” Yusaku explained seriously, “Our consciousnesses could’ve been dragged into some kind of simulation, just like how Lightning brought Jin’s into Link Vrains.”

Takeru, on the other hand, didn’t look convinced, “But there’s still a problem,” He remarked, “My duel disk was still in my backpack in the living room, and the highest tech thing that Gramps owns is one of those old dial phones.

Yusaku held his hand to his chin. Well, there was one hole in their theory.

“There has to be a way to check if we’re in the network or something,” Aoi thought aloud, “I mean, this feels real, but so did Mirror Vrains and the Tower of Hanoi…”

Takeru snapped his fingers, “Wait, we do have something like that!” He pointed at Yusaku, “Yusaku, your Link Sense. Can’t you use that to feel if we’re actually inside Link Vrains or something like it?”

“Link Sense?” Aoi spoke up, confused. Yusaku and Takeru looked at her for a moment before sharing a glance. It occurred to the both of them that they’d never really _explained_ Yusaku’s ability, or really anything specific about their whole operation, even after she learned their identities. It simply never came up during the conflict with Ai, and there's never been a time when they’d explained Yusaku’s connection to the network or anything like it during or afterwards. She’d simply been kept out of the loop.

“Yusaku has this kind of… ability to sense stuff in the network,” Takeru explained, “Even when he’s outside of it.”

“I’m still aware of the network, and I can sense presences within it even when I’m not,” Yusaku confirmed, “Ai could do the same.”

“That… explains a lot actually,” She admitted, likely thinking back to all the times where Playmaker just somehow managed to arrive at important events just in time, or how he just seemed to _know_ when things were wrong sometimes, “So… how does it work?”

Yusaku closed his eyes, “I feel the pulses of the network like they’re voices calling out to me. It’s more active when I’m inside Link Vrains, but if I focus…”

Aoi and Takeru remained quiet as he tried to reach out. Find a pulse, a signal, anything. Something that not even the most well-crafted of virtual illusions could hide… 

But there was nothing, not even the ambient buzz to indicate he was too far from any kind of connection.

His mind raced as he kept trying. There wasn’t any interference, no blocking of his ability… There just wasn’t any connection. No Link Vrains, no cyberspace… nothing.

No network of any kind.

“There’s… nothing,” He uttered, opening his eyes.

“What do you mean?” Aoi asked.

“There’s no connection, not even a faint one,” He remarked, “Not only are we not inside of the network, but there is _no_ network here.”

His companions’ eyes widened, “But if we’re not in the network,” Takeru muttered, startled, “Then where _are_ we?”

Aoi shook her head, “None of this makes sense…”

“We need to stop focusing on what we don’t know and start focusing on what we do,” Yusaku asserted, sensing their panic, “One,” He held up one finger, “We were all taken to this place in our sleep. Two,” He held up another, “Where or whatever this place is, it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near any kind of network, so the chances of it being some kind of virtual reality is extremely unlikely. That also means there likely won’t be any kind of way to contact the rest of the world, at least for now, so we’ll have to expect to survive on our own until we can find help,” He held up another finger, along with the duel disk on his arm, “Three, we all woke up with these duel disks on our arms. Our best guess if we want any more answers is to find out _why_.”

He took the deck out from his duel disk, “Mine had my Playmaker deck already loaded, what about yours?”

Both Aoi and Takeru copied Yusaku, taking the decks from their respective disks, “This is definitely me and Flame’s Salamangreats,” Takeru remarked, turning the deck around to show the Salamangreat Jack Jaguar at the bottom of it, “But wait,” He turned towards Aoi, “Zaizen, don’t you usually use one of those newer models that doesn’t need real cards?”

“Yes, but…” She turned her own deck around, showing the Marincess Mandarin card at the bottom, “These are the Marincess cards Aqua gave me.”

“You had your brother print them?” Yusaku asked.

Aoi shook her head, “Not him,” She explained, “It was actually your friend Kusanagi. He gave them to me as a gift a little while after the…” She slowed her words and gave Yusaku a sympathetic glance, “ _Incident_ with Ai, as thanks for helping against him and Lightning. I was actually planning on giving them to Miyu once she recovered enough to leave the hospital.”

“Miyu?” Takeru repeated. The name sounded familiar to Yusaku as well, but he just couldn’t place it...

“Aqua’s origin,” Aoi answered, looking down at the deck thoughtfully, “I figured that since she never got to properly meet Aqua herself, that she could at least have her deck. Something to remember her by…”

The three of them went quiet, remembering their fallen partners. Yusaku had to note that even after Takeru and Aoi came to terms with their losses, that didn’t mean remembering their Ignis’ ultimate fates didn’t… hurt.

_“Playmaker.”_

The rogue thought jolted Yusaku out of his introspection, the blue-haired teen looking around for the source of the statement.  
“Yusaku? What’s wrong?”

“No…” He answered slowly, “I was wrong, there _is_ something.”

“What? Like, a connection to the network?” 

“Not a connection,” He turned in the direction he could _feel_ his Link Sense pointing him towards, “More like, a pulse,” It reminded him of how he could still feel the pulses of his own monsters during his first master duel with Revolver, even after Ryoken’s card seemingly erased them and Ai, “...from the Cyberse.”

His two companions’ eyes widened, “But wouldn’t that mean there’s a connection?” Aoi questioned, “From what I understand, Cyberse data shouldn’t be able to exist outside of the Network… so how can there not be a connection?”

Yusaku shook his head, “I don’t know, but I can sense it, somehow,” He pointed up the hill they’d woken up next to, “That way, follow me.”

Aoi looked to Takeru for some kind of guidance, only for the latter to shrug in response. He was more used to Yusaku’s link sense then she was. And it was with that that the three of them slowly walked up the hill, Yusaku at the head. And when they reached the top, there was quite the sight waiting for them.

“Whoa…” Takeru mumbled as he and Aoi caught up. There, in the distance, was a grand, golden city, almost looking like it was made of light in how radiantly it shined. It looked massive and sprawling, the size of Den City, if not bigger.

“I’ve never even heard of a city that looked like that…” Aoi noted, the three of them captivated by the otherworldly sight before them.

“That’s where I felt the pulse from, I’m sure of it,” Yusaku informed the two of them, “If we can make our way to that city, we might be able to find out where we are, and maybe even how we can return home.”

“You sure?” Takeru questioned, “This seems too good to be true.”

“It’s the only option we have,” Yusaku countered, “We can’t just stay out here, we don’t have any kind of supplies. Hopefully there’ll be other people there that can help us find out what's going on.”

“I guess but like…” Takeru trailed off, unusually unnerved, “Something about this feels _wrong_.”

If Yusaku had to estimate, he’d say that, at the rate they were walking combined with the approximate distance of the city… they’d have a _lot_ more travelling to do. They’d have to stop for some rest at some point, but even then, he was legitimately concerned that, without any supplies, they wouldn’t even have enough energy to reach their current goal.

As such, in hopes of finding a way to contact someone or something, he’d taken to fiddling with the settings of the duel disk attached to his arm. He still hadn’t made much progress. It certainly seemed to be capable of being used to duel… but that seemed to be about all it could do.

“Hey, Fujiki, forgive me if this is a little rude for me to ask,” Aoi began to ask as Yusaku continued exploring his duel disk via the screen, “But… Where have you been the last few months?”

He stopped in his tracks. Yusaku supposed it _had_ been a while since he’d been in school, or since he’d even seen Blue Maiden in Link Vrains. He hadn’t really been paying attention to how much time passed in the real world during his search for Ai.

“I…” He paused, “I’ve been on a journey.”

Aoi didn’t press on, an uncomfortable silence hanging over the group.

“Yusaku…” Takeru sounded concerned, “This is about Ai, isn’t it?”

The whole group stopped with him now. He didn’t answer.

“What happened during your duel with him?”

“I defeated him,” Yusaku finally answered, though he didn’t meet either of their gazes,“And he… he was erased.”

“I… I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Aoi apologized, no doubt thinking about her reaction when she’d lost Aqua, “I can’t imagine how you must feel…”

“That doesn’t matter now,” Yusaku remarked, “What matters now is one, figuring out what happened to us, two, figuring out why it happened, and three, finding out where we are.”

And with that he resumed his march forward, the other two heroes of Vrains sharing a glance before catching up. They were both clearly concerned for him, but… that was his business. They just had to focus on whatever event had happened to the three of them first.

“I’ve been examining this duel disk,” He held up his left arm as he walked, “It’s got an interface, but it looks like it's only capable of being used for dueling. No extra features.”

“It’s so strange…” Aoi noted, looking at her own, “There has to be a reason why we have these… Maybe they’re like some kind of tracking device?”

“Maybe,” He’d had the same thought, “If we can find a proper console, I might be able to examine the code directly, but the built-in interface isn’t enough for me to try to hack in.”

Aoi thought to herself for a moment, “You know, I always wondered how you always got by in classes even though you seemed to sleep through most of them,” She chuckled, “Makes sense that _Playmaker_ already knew a few things about computer programs. In hindsight, it was a bit obvious.”

“I never put too much thought into hiding my identity,” He admitted, “Usually I just kept to masking my online activity and keeping a low…” The two of them stopped dead in their tracks as they both noticed something in their path, a large, dug out section of earth in the ground, horizontal to their current position, around a dozen feet deep, a few yards wide and a few more yards long. In their conversation and thoughts, they hadn’t noticed it due to the slight decline of the ground, but once they did it only took them a few more moments to notice several more, identical, pits beyond them. The upturn earth made it clear none of them were natural.

“Are they… graves?” Aoi suggested, slightly worried by her own morbid suggestion.

“No,” It took Yusaku a moment to recognize it, “They’re _trenches_.”

“Warfare trenches?” She tilted her head, “Maybe, but then what are they doing here?” She took a glance at the grainy, uneven dirt making up the trenches, “They look… recent.”

“Hey guys?” It occurred to Yusaku that Takeru hadn’t been walking with them, he and Aoi turning around at the sound of the fire duelist calling out for them, “I might be going crazy… but I think there’s a flying _person_ following us,” Indeed, he was looking up at the sky, using one arm to block the sun from his eyes. Yusaku followed his gaze, and there was certainly _something_ up there. A black shape with what seemed like wings. Yusaku thought it might’ve been a bird, that Takeru might’ve been seeing things due to a lack of water, exhaustion, or maybe even just a blur on his glasses… but soon enough, he _also_ began to make out more and more humanoid features. An arm, a leg… and most worryingly, what seemed to be a _weapon_.

“If you’re going crazy, I think we all are…” Aoi remarked.

Another thing that just didn’t make sense. First they somehow wake up in the middle of nowhere, now there’s a flying humanoid hovering above them. And the only possible explanation, that they had somehow been entered into a virtual reality without their knowing, had already been ruled out. He still couldn’t even pick up the slightest wisp of connection, so either they were all somehow seeing the same hallucination, or there really _was_ someone flying over them.

Yusaku had never been the superstitious type. He’d always stuck to logic and that never failed him. The mysterious ghost said to drag people into Link Vrains? The Another virus. A figure somehow emerging from a TV screen and dragging Jin’s consciousness away? Lightning and Bohman’s programs. The mysterious rumors of a Cyberse deck, guarded by a vicious ghost? Ai and a duel puzzle program… Although admittedly he never _did_ quite figure out how his former partner had managed to hide the real versions of the cards away, SOLtis not having been in production at the time. But this? This just… this was beginning to give him pause.

He’d been so lost in thought that he almost missed the figure beginning to dive down towards them.

Takeru’s eyes widened as he realized the same, “It’s getting closer!”

Then, suddenly, without warning, the figure seemed to swing the instrument into the air in front of it, the light catching it and letting Yusaku clearly see that it seemed to be an axe of some kind. As it did so, a bright blue electric energy engulfed the blade, and as it held its weapon up, a blue lightning bolt shot out of it as if it was some kind of tesla coil.

Takeru barely managed to jump out of the way as the attack hit the ground, kicking up a massive amount of dirt and dust in the process.

He and Aoi stood there, mouths agape as they registered what had just happened. That thing had attacked them with something he could only describe as _magic_. Takeru didn’t seem to understand either, only staring back up at the creature terrified, the arms of his hoodie stained with dirt from his dive.

Still, one thing was clear. Regardless of what it was, regardless of what was truly going on, they were in danger.

“Run!” Takeru yelled out to them, stumbling to his feet as the three of them began to run for their lives. He could heard some kind of demented cackle from the creature as he heard and felt another attack hit the ground behind them, kicking up more dirt as it made contact.

“Right, right!” He directed as they reached the trench. It was too big for them to even hope to jump across, forcing them to take a coordinated turn that caused another attack, this one seemingly a bolt of lightning, to only narrowly miss them 

“What is that thing?!” Aoi asked, panicked.

“I don’t know!” Takeru responded, another bolt of lightning hitting the ground behind them as they ran, “Just keep running!”

In Link Vrains, none of them would’ve batted an eye to something like this. But they weren’t in Link Vrains, and despite the sheer impossibility of it, this was _real_. Any injury they sustained would be real, could be fatal. They didn’t have avatar features, no defense or escape programs, nothing. Just their own legs to carry them as far away from what seemed to be certain death as they could.

And to their horror, as a bolt struck the ground ahead of them and caused the ground to give away to the trench they’d been running parallel to, that wasn’t far enough.

Each of them tripped at the sudden loss of surface, tumbling into the dugout section of ground one after another. Yusaku could hear Aoi coughing from the upheaved dust as he shook some dirt out of his head. Though he was unsure of how unscathed she and Takeru were, his own legs being fine, it didn’t matter. They didn’t have enough time to scamper up one of the trench’s sides without being hit, and eventually they’d reach a dead end at the end of the trench. They were stuck, trapped like fish in a barrel.

Yusaku heard a small chuckle from above, looking up and seeing their winged attacker in full, standing on the ground level they’d fallen from. They were, for lack of a better term, draconic, with large clawed feet, purple and black scales all across their body, and of course a large pair of (also black and purple) frilled wings. They also seemed to be wearing black armor across their body, though for their reptilian head he couldn’t tell where the scales ended and the helmet began. In their hands was, indeed, the same large double-bladed axe that they’d been using to fire bolts at them. Interestingly, on their arm, in the same place as his own in fact, was what seemed to be a duel disk, similar to his but with the blade split in two on both sides, resembling the creature’s axe, and a large gem in place of a screen.

“You weaklings have the nerve to wear the mark of a duelist?” It sneered, leaping into the trench, gliding for a moment using it's wings, “Pathetic-” Moments after the creature landed, Takeru suddenly jumped up, grabbing its axe by the handle before delivering a swift kick to the dragon-man’s leg.

Despite the size, and likely strength, difference, the action was just bold enough to catch their attacker off guard, causing him to release his weapon, which Takeru immediately took hold of. It was clearly too heavy for him, but with an audible grunt, he redirected the weapon’s momentum towards its former wielder, blade first.

The creature let out a grunt as it blocked the strike with the duel disk on its left arm, visibly struggling against its own weapon.

“I’ll hold him off!” Takeru yelled to the two of them, also struggling with the heavy axe, “Get out of here, both of you!”

“We can’t leave you-” Aoi began to protest.

“Just go!” Takeru countered, “I’ll be fine, just run!”

Yusaku sat there, mouth agape and petrified. Takeru was sacrificing himself so they could get away. If they left him, he’d almost certainly be killed. If they stayed, then they’d still likely all end up dead. But was there any other option? They certainly couldn’t outrun this foe, and they had no other ways to fight back against him. He glanced at Aoi, seemingly just as paralyzed as he was.

The logical part of him was yelling at him to just take Aoi and go… but he couldn’t just abandon one of his closest friends. He… he couldn’t lose another one of his comrades. Not after Ai

But was there anything he could even do?

It was then the creature did something… unusual. It reached for the deck zone of its duel disk, pressing another button on the side and causing the two axe-shaped halves of the blade to snap into one, card zones beginning to glow dimly. It took a handful of cards from the top of its deck, taking a moment to glance at them, before inserting one into one of the duel disk’s spell/trap zones.

“Spell activate!” The creature declared, to the trio’s confusion, “Ancient Rules! Appear, Tri-Horned Dragon!” And, as Yusaku recognized the name of the duel monster’s cards, a large hologram of the card appeared beside him with a flash of light. The large spell card began to shine brightly as something began to emerge from it, a large reptilian creature with a blue body, red underbelly, and yellow claws, with a line of similarly colored spikes running down its back.

Takeru barely had a moment to comprehend what had just happened when the monster slashed at him with his claws, somehow making a physical impact and flinging him into the other side of the trench. The axe dropped from his hands and landed on the ground.

Immediately, Aoi rushed over to help the fallen Takeru, trying to help him back up as Yusaku registered what just happened. The draconic man had used a duel monsters card to summon something _real_.

“That… that was an actual impact,” Takeru sputtered, clutching his side as Aoi hoisted his other arm over her back to help him up, “T-that’s not a hologram…”

“I’ll give you some credit for disarming me,” The humanoid dragon taunted, his blue monster stomping forward towards Takeru and Aoi, “But this is the end. Tri-Horn, rip these cowards apart.”

If this creature’s duel disk could materialize it, then that meant…

_“You weaklings have the nerve to wear the mark of a duelist?”_

Yusaku dashed between the approaching monster and his comrades, “If you’re looking for a duel,” He activated his own duel disk, the blade extending and glowing with a brief rainbow of lights, “I’ll be your opponent!” He drew his opening hand. Hopefully, he was correct about this, because otherwise they’d all likely be torn to shreds.

“Oh?” The creature seemed bemused, signalling its dragon to stop, “A proper duel?” It sneered, “Fine, at least one of you will die with some sport.” 

The two of them began pacing, reaching the center of the trench, Aoi and Takeru in the middle of the two. It was as if they were about to fire pistols at each other.

“Duel!” (Yusaku LP: 4000) (Dragonute LP: 4000)

“It’s still my turn,” The Dragonute, as the duel disk identified under his life point counter, continued, “I summon Mystery Shell Dragon,” He announced as he placed the monster on his duel disk, a shining light forming a large black dragon to join his Tri-Horned Dragon on the field, the new monster’s body seemingly made up entirely of crystals. (2000/0)

“One set card,” The back of a card materialized on the Dragonute’s field, “Now then, show me what you can muster.”

Yusaku glowered, his dueling instinct taking over as he analyzed his opponent's field. Two normal monsters, both with high attack points. Combined with his opponent’s general demeanor, it seemed like they were using a fairly basic power deck, designed mostly to overpower opponents via sheer attack power. The set card also possessed some threat, likely some kind of trap to stop attacks should he manage to overpower the two dragons on his opponent's field. Even though the play looked basic, he couldn’t afford to overestimate his opponent, not when all attacks would inflict physical damage. 

This was different from Link Vrains. He could endure the stimulated feeling of pain that came if he lost life points there, but physical injuries from these attacks could inflict damage he couldn’t just shrug off. Things that could pose problems even if he won.

“My turn!” He grabbed the top card of his deck, “I draw!’

He added the top card of his deck to his hand, looking over the six cards.

“This…” He heard Aoi remark, “This is insane.”

“Maybe,” Takeru responded, still sounding a bit rattled, “But hey, better than trying hand to hand… Come on Yusaku, you got this!”

Yusaku closed his eyes. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d dueled outside of his Playmaker persona. It’d been so long since he'd even used a duel disk outside Link Vrains… but that didn’t mean he’d suddenly become a novice.

He opened his eyes, “I activate the continuous spell Cynet Optimization!” He yelled, activating the spell on his duel disk, “Then, I summon Firewall Guardian!” From a hexagonal blue portal materialized a serpentine blue dragon, its body looking similar to a wireframe, clad in white armor-like coverings. (100/2000)

“Cynet Optimization lets me summon another Cyberse!” He explained, continuing, “I summon Code Radiator!” From another portal emerged another serpentine creature, with a similar blue wire-frame body. This one, however, had a more fish-like body, and the upper half was akin to an armored mermaid wearing blue armor. (1600/800)

He raised his hand to the air, “Appear, the circuit that guides the future!” A blue bolt flew off from his palm, forming the familiar 8-pointed link summoning circuit, “The summoning conditions are two effect monsters!” He declared, the two monsters on his field becoming blasts of blue energy that shot towards the top and bottom link arrows, “Link summon! Link 2, Code Talker!”

The portal explodes with light, a grey-armored figure dropping from it and onto the field. Like Yusaku’s other two monsters, its body looked more akin to a wireframe model, this time a light grey. In its hands was a large white sword. (1300)

“Still no match for either of my monsters,” The Dragonute taunted, “And it doesn’t seem to have any effects that will change that.”

“Code Radiator and Firewall Guardian’s effects activate when they’re used to link summon,” Yusaku explained, “First, Firewall Guardian special summons itself from the graveyard at the cost of being banished when it leaves the field,” On cue, a purple graveyard portal opened on the ground, the draconic Cyberse emerging from it (100/2000), “Next, Code Radiator’s effect!”

A translucent image of the piscine monster appeared, hovering over Yusaku’s field, “When I use it on the field as link material for a Code Talker, I can target two of your monsters,” He pointed at the two dragons as blue energy gathered in both of Radiator’s hands, “Their attack points are changed to zero, and their effects are negated!” 

“What!?”

Yusaku pointed towards the Dragonute’s field, Code Radiator following its owners signal and shooting out two pulses of blue energy from its hands, hitting both of the normal monsters and dulling their colors as they were surrounded by a blue aura. (2000-0) (2850-0)

His opponent grunted, “Even with that,” The creature remarked, “You can’t defeat me with those weaklings!”

“Appear again, the circuit that guides the future!” Yusaku ignored his opponents taunts, summoning forth the link portal once more, his two monsters once again turning to blue energy, Code Talker splitting into two separate instances, and flying into the link arrows, this time the top, bottom, and right, “Link Summon!”

The new monster was similar to the Code Talker used to summon it, only orange. As it materialized, bulky armor formed on its wireframe-esqe body, a large rifle forming in its hand. Upon fully forming, the new monster held its hand forward, a gust of data storm material emitting from its entrance, “Appear, Link 3 Transcode Talker!” (2300)

The Dragonute looked upon the new Code Talker, for the first time actually seeming worried.

“Transcode Talker’s effect!” Yusaku held his hand out, “I can special summon a Code Talker Link monster from my graveyard to its link!” Transcode gestured towards the ground, another graveyard portal appearing, “Resurrect, Code Talker!” At Yusaku’s command, the grey Link monster jumped up from the portal, its weapon raised and ready. (1300) 

His opponent took a step back, “You still don’t have enough to-”

“Code Talker gains 500 attack for each monster next to its link!” Yusaku exclaimed, “Then, Transcode Talker and monsters mutually linked to it gain 500 attack!” The two monsters were surrounded with a red aura, letting out a battle cry as their attack increased. (2300-2800) (1300-2300)

“Let’s battle! Code Talker attacks Mystery Shell Dragon!” The default Code Talker leapt forward, ready to cut apart the crystalline dragon with its blade.

“Trap activate-”

“Useless! Cynet Optimization prevents the activation of spells and traps when a Code Talker battles!”

The Dragonute’s eyes widened, “What!?”

“Go, Code Talker!” He shouted, Code Talker leaping forward into a downward slash, cleaving the Shell Dragon right down the middle. The two halves of the monster exploded, knocking his opponent back, though Yusaku himself still felt the shock of the impact. (Dragonute LP: 4000-1700)

“End this, Transcode Talker!” In this life or death situation, he couldn’t afford to hesitate for even a moment. At his command, the orange Code Talker readied its gun, charging energy into the barrel as it aimed it at the weakened Tri-Horned Dragon, “Transcode Finish!”

Transcode Talker fired, blasting a clear hole through the dragon that had attacked Takeru, destroying it with a massive explosion that forced Yusaku, Aoi, and Takeru to all shield themselves from the impact with their arms. The Dragonute was sent flying backwards, its motionless body landing a few feet away with a dull thud. (Dragonute LP: 1700- **0** ) 

Yusaku let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding in. His two Code Talkers stayed on the field for a few moments despite the duel having ended, giving their master an almost respectful glance before slowly fading away.

“Even outside of Link Vrains,” Aoi said slowly, still seemingly trying to process everything they’d just discovered, “He’s still Playmaker.”

“Hey, Yusaku,” Takeru asked, slowly getting himself into a position to stay on his feet without Aoi helping him stand up, “How… how did you know that would work?”

Yusaku was silent for a moment, staring at the unmoving form of his opponent. This wasn’t like Link Vrains. When he defeated his opponent, they weren't just knocked down or logged out. The duel, the injuries… they were all _real_ , “I… I listened to my instincts,” Truth be told, he was effectively gambling to see if his own duel disk had the same strange property as his opponent’s. It made sense, answering the question of _why_ they had all these strange disks on their arms… but there was no certainty it would work, “This must be why we all woke up with these duel disks.”

He took a glance downward at his deck, thinking a silent _thank you_ for the cards that helped save him and his comrades. 

His friends.

“So we can use our decks to defend ourselves,” Takeru mused, though he looked oddly unsettled by the concept. It wasn’t too different from what they did in Link Vrains, potential for real injury aside, “I mean, that’s… strange, but hey if it’ll get us out of here-” He was interrupted by the sound of a hoarse laugh.

“Ha… ha…” The three of them took a look back at the source, their pursuer, who was thankfully still on the ground, “You… you think you can escape?” He taunted, his body beginning to glow with a yellow aura as he continued to lie on the ground, “I may… die here… but my fellows… they’ll avenge me...”

Yusaku took a defensive stance between his fallen opponent and his companions. He’d defeat him again if he had to.

“Why… why do you think I was following you for so long?” The Dragonute continued, “I was… _signalling_ my comrades… They’ll be here… any minute now…”

“What?” Yusaku thought about what that meant. Not only was there _more_ of this thing, but they were coordinated?

“Ha… ha…” It laughed again as its body began to glow even more brightly, “You’ll all join me… soon enough... You… You’ll _never_ leave this place alive…”

And with that, the yellow glow overtook its form completely, the creature dissolving into wisps of yellow light that quickly faded into the air. The only thing left was the creature’s duel disk, which fell to the ground as its owner’s body disappeared beneath it, the only evidence the Dragonute was ever there to begin with.

The three of them looked upon the sight, confused and horrified. Was _this_ what happened if that thing had caught up with them? It reminded all three of them, Takeru and _especially_ Aoi personally, of what happened when someone had lost during the Tower of Hanoi incident or in Mirror Vrains. But this… this wasn’t simply their consciousness data being absorbed or taken away. It really hit them that if the same thing happened to any of them here, there wouldn’t be any chance for a revival. No restorations, no backups.

If they lost… they’d die, and that would be it.

“We… we have to get out of here,” Takeru said after a long silence, “At least out of this area. You heard what that guy said, his buddies are gonna show up if we hang around.”

“Even between the three of us,” Yusaku held his chin, “We could likely only take on so many at once without being overwhelmed…”

“But where do we go?” Aoi countered, still in disbelief at everything that they’d just seen, “If they’re anything like him, they can fly too,” She took a moment to hold her forehead, “And it still sounds insane as I’m saying it… great.”

Yusaku approached his fallen opponent’s duel disk, still lying on the ground. He picked it up, internally noting that it was somehow even less advanced than his own. There wasn’t any way for him to potentially hack into it, but it could still help them. 

With a heave, he grabbed the blade of the duel disk and began to dig into the earth with it, trying to make a small hole.

“Uh, Fujiki?” Aoi questioned, looking at his display, “What are you trying to do?”

“If we can hide the only proof that… thing was here,” He explained, getting nowhere fast with digging said hole. Yusaku had to acknowledge he wasn’t exactly the athletic type, “Maybe then we can hide ourselves and the allies he was talking about will think he’s elsewhere.”

Aoi looked a little dismayed at the suggestion, which Yusaku had to admit wasn’t the _best_ plan, but it was the most he could come up with, time being of the essence.

“Hey, Yusaku, let me do it,” Takeru offered, advancing forward still clutching his side.

“Are you alright?” Yusaku asked, noting that Takeru might still be injured from the Dragonute’s monster swiping at him earlier.

“He just scratched me,” Takeru reassured him, “It hurts a bit, but I’m ok. Besides,” He took the duel disk from Yusaku, quickly getting much farther in digging a small hole with the blade then Yusaku could manage in the same time, “We gotta do this fast.”

Takeru _did_ have a lot more experience with physical activities then he did.

“Where are we going to hide though?” Takeru asked, having finally dug enough of a hole to drop the duel disk in before kicking and stomping some dirt over the hole to bury it.

“If we press ourselves against one of the walls of these trenches,” Aoi noted, looking at the edges, “Maybe it’ll be enough to hide us if they’re looking down from the air?”

“That’ll have to do,” Yusaku declared, scanning the sky to look for any potential new threats, “In the meantime let’s keep moving. The further we get from this spot the better.”

The three of them nodded to each other, agreeing to the plan. They set out to climb in and out of each trench, whoever went first watching the skies to make sure they wouldn’t get caught off-guard in the middle of traversing each one. They’d also made sure to bury the heavy battle axe, the weapon being far too heavy for them to carry with them. 

“Hey Homura?” Aoi asked as Takeru helped her down into yet another trench. They’d managed to get at least three trenches closer to the city and away from the one where Yusaku had dueled the Dragonute, though their goal was still _miles_ in the distance, “How’d you know how to disarm that thing?”

“Oh, my Grandfather actually taught me a lot about martial arts,” He answered, “Aikido, Judo, Jujitsu… he started training me when I was a kid after, well, you know…” 

It took Aoi a moment, “Oh,” She finally realized, looking away guiltily, “The Lost Incident…”

“Yeah,” Takeru also averted his gaze for a moment, “They didn’t want anything like that to happen to me ever again, so Gramps taught me how to defend myself. Part of that was knowing how to disarm someone,” He shrugged, “Never thought I’d have to use it on something holding a _battleaxe_ though.”

Yusaku, meanwhile, was halfway between trenches. Takeru was the first to go forward this time around, leaving him as last when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. A whole squadron of flying figures in the distance, _extremely_ similar to how the Dragonute had looked when it was stalking them earlier. As soon as he realized, he quickly ran over to the other trench where Takeru and Aoi were, jumping in.

“What-”

“They’re coming, quiet,” Yusaku said quickly, pressing himself against the wall of the trench, his two comrades following suite.

Hopefully, the group hadn’t seen him before he’d caught sight of them.

After a few tense minutes, they heard the dull thud of something landing on the ground, followed by several others. 

“I don’t see any sign of Axe…” They heard a voice say, concerned, “Are we sure this was where he was last patrolling?”

“He was reporting that he’d located rogue duelists,” Another, deeper and more authoritative voice remarked, “Perhaps they managed to overpower him?”

“Never,” The first voice countered, sounding offended, “Besides, even if Axe was killed we’d have seen his duel disk by now.”

“You say that, yet I can sense that a battle took place here. Recently,” Yusaku’s eyes widened. If they could tell that, the chance of them being discovered rose by the minute. The similarly fearful looks in Aoi and Takeru’s eyes told him they were thinking the same.

There was a scoff, “So? Perhaps he already found his quarry and took their duel disks as proof of his worth to the King,” The first voice proposed, bemused, “I wouldn’t put it past him. Always was a glory hound.”

“You seem so eager to believe your blood brother was that capable,” The second voice countered, “If _either_ of you were, then you wouldn’t have been placed under _my_ command,” There was the distinct sound of a duel disk activating, “But I’ll humor you. Come, Firedog,” There was a flash of light visible from their hiding spot, and Yusaku’s heart sank. From the sound of it, they’d just summoned a monster to act as their hunting hound. And they were the prey.

“Let’s put both our theories to the test, Lancer. Firedog, search this place. If Axe was killed, we’ll find his duel disk, and his killers can’t be far,” The second voice said, confirming Yusaku’s fears.

Immediately, the three of them were paralyzed as they heard the sound of something smelling the air, before the sound of growling and paws hitting dirt rapidly began to converge on their location.

“Damn,” Yusaku said, looking down at his deck. If he counted correctly, there was about 7-8 creatures in the flying squadron he’d spotted. He couldn’t be sure if he could take so many on at the same time. Takeru and Aoi could duel too but…

The growling got louder as the sound of footsteps stopped right above their position.

“Oh?” The second voice now sounded arrogant, “Well then, let’s see what my hound located for us.”

He looked over to Aoi and Takeru, the two of them looking just as uncomfortable with the situation as he did. 

“We… we can fight them,” Takeru suggested quickly as the sound of more forces approached their position, “We might be outnumbered but…”

Aoi suddenly activated her duel disk, “I… I have an idea,” She quickly said before jumping out of their hiding place, grabbing a card off the top of her deck. As soon as she came into their view, something jumped at her from above. It certainly looked _like_ a dog, but seemingly made completely of rock and magma, two large spines of obsidian emerging from the sockets of its forelegs.

Before either Takeru or Yusaku could reach out to help her, Aoi placed the card she drew into one of her spell/trap zones, though her body still shifted slightly, indicating she still wasn’t used to the motion, “Go, Marincess Wave!” She shouted, a wall of water appearing between her and the hound, knocking it back as it yelped in pain from the two elements meeting.

“Duelists!” The first voice cried out, though they seemed to be held by the barrier of rushing water like their superior’s dog.

“Wait, I get it!” Takeru seemed to come to the same realization as Aoi, activating his own duel disk, “If the cards we play become real, then we have a way out of here!” 

Yusaku realized Takeru was right. If their hunters could summon monsters and use cards to assist them… then so could they. Their own monsters could not only help them get out of this situation, but they could _also_ help them get to the city, and thus to the possibility of outside help, much faster than they ever could alone.

Yusaku activated his own duel disk before drawing five cards from his deck, seeing one that could _definitely_ help them at this moment.

He looked at Takeru, and Soulburner nodded back.

“Come forth, Proxy Horse!”

“Salamangreat Gazelle!”

With a flash of blue light, both monsters appeared before their respective duelists. The Firewall Dragon-esque horse monster let out a digitized neigh, while the flames ignited on the oryx-like Salamangreat. They both knelt before their owners, allowing the two of them to mount their monsters.

“...So do you know how to ride a horse?” Takeru asked, struggling into place on his monster’s back.

“No.” Yusaku admitted, “Do you?”

“Uh… Well, guess we’ll just have to hold on _really_ tight then,” Takeru remarked, “Alright, so… Gazelle, go!”

Luckily, the monster seemed to understand Takeru’s command, immediately going into a full sprint, Takeru clinging on to its back as if his life depended on it. Which to be fair, at this point it practically did.

Proxy Horse followed suit, going into a full gallop. Yusaku had to admit, clinging onto the Cyberse monster’s neck, that it wasn’t _as_ bad as he expected. Not as risky as using a duel board would’ve been without virtual protections, but he did feel like if he took his arm off the creature’s neck he’d almost immediately fly off.

“They’re trying to escape!”

He barely managed to grab Aoi’s outstretched hand as they ran past, pulling her onto his monster. The strain of it made it feel like his arm was about to rip out from its socket, but she managed to get on the back of the creature as well, clinging onto him tightly to make sure she didn’t fall off either.

The three of them quickly rode away towards their goal, a single bolt of lightning shooting past Yusaku and Aoi as they did so. Luckily, it wasn’t anywhere close to hitting either his or Takeru’s mounts, impacting the ground harmlessly.

Yusaku tightened his grip around his monster’s neck as he and Aoi were both bucked back and forth by it as it galloped across the plains, their pursuers staying put as they watched their prey escape, possibly in shock.

None of them bothered looking back, only focusing on not being thrown off their respective mounts and getting to their destination.

“You’re just letting them get away!?” The Lancer Dragonute protested, the trio of humans who almost certainly killed his brother escaping into the distance.

“Troops, ready yourselves to return to base,” His superior, a Draconic Knight, commanded, ignoring his lieutenant in favor of giving instructions to their regiment of Troop Dragons, “Lancer, I’ll allow you one last sweep to find any remains of Axe.”

“What?” The Lancer protested, “We can’t just let them get away! You defy the orders of the King-”

“They’re in the territory of the Light spirit now,” The Knight reprimanded, shooting a glare towards his disrespectful underling, “Our King’s orders is for that area to be left alone,” He took a glance towards the war trenches around them, “For now.”

The Dragonute clenched his fist, incensed but keeping himself quiet for the moment.

“Besides,” The Knight remarked as he prepared to take off, “If they continue in that direction, they’ll meet their end soon enough.”

Yusaku lost track of how long they rode their monsters, having resorted to keeping his head down to prevent it from getting knocked too and fro during the trip, but eventually both his Horse and Takeru’s Gazelle stopped. When he finally noticed that his mount had come to a halt, he looked up and, to his _immense_ relief, saw glass and concrete before him.

Together, they’d made it to the Golden City in the distance. Their main hope of figuring out both where they were, and how they could get back home.

But, before they took any more steps towards any of that, Yusaku took the moment to fall to the ground.

 _Everything_ felt sore, bruised, or otherwise battered. Yusaku hadn’t ever so much as rode a horse at a _slow_ pace, nevermind as fast as his monster had been, and it showed. His posture had been all wrong, and the result was… painful. 

Another reminder of the fact that, no matter what mythical things he did in this place, it wasn’t Link Vrains. He’d been knocked through a glass window there and gotten up without issue. Here, he was struggling to get back up after an uncomfortable horse ride.

Judging by the identical thuds from behind and to the left of him, Aoi and Takeru hadn’t fared much better.

“I _never_ want to do that again…” He heard Aoi say, muffled, probably because she'd fallen face first into the grass like he had, “Fujiki, Homura, are you two ok?”

“I feel like I just got thrown down a hill…” Takeru bemoaned, “But… I think I’m alright. Just… give me a minute…”

“I need a moment…” Yusaku himself replied, slowly getting himself up, “I don’t think any of us took into account how little we knew about proper riding techniques…” His arms still felt sore as he lifted himself up from the dirt, just enough to get himself into a sitting position on the ground. The first thing that came into view was his own Proxy Horse, its neck turned to him with a hint of concern on its face. Takeru was currently leaning against his own Gazelle’s legs, the monster absently nibbling on some of the grass on the ground. Aoi was behind him, turning herself over but not managing to sit up like he had.

“I mean, it looked cool at least, right?” Takeru asked, looking at his monster feeding, bemused.

“A little,” Aoi admitted, sounding exhausted, “But it feels like you almost broke my shoulder when you grabbed my hand, Fujiki.”

Yusaku noticed she was rubbing her arm, his own right one feeling extra sore. He’d ignored it due to the adrenaline of the moment, but the thought occurred to him that he’d probably come _dangerously_ close to dislocating one or both of their arms with the action. The three of them had spent so much time taking advantage of the lack of physical limits on their avatars that they’d almost forgotten how fragile their _actual_ bodies really were at times.

“I… I think we all just need to rest,” Yusaku suggested, still unwilling to stand back up proper, “For a little while at least.”

“Yep.”

“Agreed.”

“So uh…” Takeru remarked after a few moments of silence, eyeing both their monsters, “What are we gonna do with these guys?”

As if in response, Takeru’s monster began fading, turning into specs of red light that travelled into the card on his duel disk… as he fell to the ground, the monster who he’d been leaning on for support no longer being there.

“Ow.”

Yusaku glanced up to his own monster, the Horse-like cyberse tilting its head at him as it also began to fade, though it didn’t seem pained as it turned into blue light. Eventually, his monster disappeared as well, Yusaku picking up its card from his duel disk.

“So then, we know three things now,” Yusaku noted, going into his usual tick, “One, we can use the cards in our decks to defend ourselves, two, all duels here deal real damage, and three, there are strange, monstrous forces trying to hunt us down seemingly just because we have these duel disks on our arms.”

“But… none of that even comes close to explaining where we even are,” Aoi questioned, “And, more importantly, _how_ and _what_ is going on to even make all that possible?”

“I…” Yusaku answered slowly, trying to think of an explanation, “I have no idea.”

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the group that had just arrived there, a lone duel runner was driving through the plains, miles away. Eventually, it reached a small hill, the dark runner stopping there as its driver looked up towards the shining city.

Crow had no idea where he was or how he got there. All he knew was that, somehow, his signer birthmark had returned, the mark of the Crimson Dragon’s blessing once again faintly present on his arm. Through it, he could sense some of his fellow signers, but oddly, not all of them. Like some of them just weren't there. And adding to the strangeness of the day, he’d also woken up in this place with his duel runner mysteriously nearby, almost as if it was waiting for him.

“Well,” He remarked to himself, looking at the mysterious, almost ethereally glowing city before him, “Seems like the best place to start if I wanna figure out what’s going on.”

And with that, he pressed down on the gas of the Blackbird, still unable to shake the unease creeping up on him.

He had a bad feeling about all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! SURVIVE:  
> Chapter 3: Severed Again  
> Yuya and Yuzu find themselves in a depressingly familiar situation; they’ve been separated from each other, thrown into a strange new dimension, and quickly find that dueling there puts everything on the line. 
> 
> Well, this chapter was SIGNIFICANTLY harder to write then I thought it'd be. My issue isn't so much the Vrains crew as it was introducing them to the situation, as there wasn't a lot of times in their home series where no one had absolutely no idea what was going on, so I really had to improvise a lot. Not to mention the lack of a major duel here, because I was prioritizing having them adapt to the situation over having them meet other characters. But hey, I did my best, and I hope you all enjoy it. 
> 
> I've sprinkled a few hints here and there on who might pop up later on. I'll say right here and now that brainwashed former allies aren't the only thing the cast has to worry about. Another thing to worry about is the aftermath of events from certain series' finales, something I'll cover even more next chapter when we see what Yuya and Yuzu are up to, and referenced in this chapter with Yusaku's new link summoning chant. Don't worry too much about the duel spirits by the way, as you can see by Yusaku's duel against one, they're one of those "Fodder" type enemies.
> 
> Oh, and I'll say right now that the counterparts are along for the ride next time as well. Never did like how they kinda just vanished in Arc V's finale, just like how I dislike many, many, MANY things about Arc V's last season. But I won't try to retcon it... just take advantage of a few things that were left hanging.
> 
> Anyways, I'd really appreciate that, if you enjoyed this, you could put a comment and/or recommend this to someone else who might also enjoy it. See ya.


End file.
